Sixteen Indians died in road accidents every hour in 2014, a quarter of them on two-wheelers, and a majority of them as a result of overspeeding or reckless overtaking, new official data show. Tamil Nadu, and Chennai in particular, have high levels of road fatalities.
The National Crime Records Bureau’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report for 2014 was released late on Friday. The numbers show a slight increase in traffic accidents and a slight decline in suicides.
Over 1.4 lakh people died in road accidents in 2014, a slight increase over the previous year. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu account for a third of all traffic accident deaths. Two-wheelers account for over a quarter of all fatal road accidents, the largest number of them in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
More suicides in the south
The National Crime Records Bureau’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, released on Friday, shows that the number of suicides, which has been declining since 2011, decreased marginally to 1.3 lakh in 2014.
This amounts to a national suicide rate of 10.4 per 1 lakh population, which would place India in the top third of global suicide rates. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal between them account for a third of all suicides. The southern states including Kerala and Tamil Nadu have twice the national suicide rate as a proportion of their populations. Family problems, illness, marriage problems and love affairs gone wrong were among the top stated causes, while housewives, as in previous years, were the largest affected population by occupational category.
12,360 farm suicides This is the first time that the NCRB has collected detailed data on farmer suicides. In all, 12360 people working in agriculture committed suicide in 2014. However, the NCRB’s definition of a farmer does not include agricultural labourers; as a result, 5650 of these were classified as ‘farmer suicides’, nearly half of them in Maharashtra alone.
Officially, 40 per cent of these suicides were classified as being on account of “farming related issues” or indebtedness and bankruptcy, 22 per cent were on account of “family problems” and 15 per cent attributed to illness. Of all farmers who committed suicide, 45 per cent were classified as small farmers (one to two hectares) and 28 per cent were marginal farmers (with less than 1 hectare).
Over 1.4 lakh people died in road accidents in 2014, a slight increase over the previous year. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu account for a third of all traffic accident deaths in the country.
In its new report, the NCRB presents the most detailed information on road accidents yet. Two-wheelers account for over a quarter of all fatal road accidents, the largest number of them in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Nearly half of all road accidents were found to be on account of overspeeding, and another 42 per cent on account of reckless driving or overtaking.
Among cities, the maximum road accident fatalities took place in Delhi, followed by Chennai, Bhopal and Jaipur.
