Each year, countless lives are lost to road accidents in our country, with overspeeding being a major culprit. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) released statistics on Tuesday, revealing that 75% of accidents happen due to speed limit violations.
According to MoRTH, in 2022, overspeeding was behind 72.4% of road accidents, and more than 75% of the deaths occurred because of breaching speed limits. In related reports, over 50,000 individuals lost their lives in bike accidents due to not wearing helmets. In total, 35,692 motorcyclists died, while 14,337 passengers on bikes perished.
Recent figures disclose a tragic insight: 16,715 individuals perished in cars without seatbelts. Of these, 8,300 were drivers, with 8,331 were passengers. Data from MoRTH reports that in 2022, there were 461,000 recorded road accidents across states and union territories, resulting in the loss of 168,000 lives and injuring 443,000. This marks an increase compared to 2021.
Data indicate a rise in accidents by 11.9% in 2022 compared to the previous year. Additionally, mortality rates increased by 9.4%, and injuries saw a rise of 15.3%.
In 2021, road accidents claimed 157,000 lives, the highest since 2018. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number decreased due to travel restrictions. Yet, 2018 saw more than 470,000 accidents, marking a peak in such unfortunate events.
Tamil Nadu witnessed the highest number of accidents in the country. In 2022, the state recorded 64,105 accidents, accounting for 13.9% of the national total. Following Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh experienced 54,432 accidents, and Uttar Pradesh reported 22,595 accidents.
