Mistry’s car crash is a reminder — India's road safety record is abysmal

The death of former Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry has once again brought to light the dangers posed on Indian roads. Mistry, who was seated in the back  of a first-gen Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV, died when the car reportedly hit a divider at a relatively high speed. The passengers in the rear died, while the driver and co-passenger sustained injuries.

According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, in 2021, deaths by accidents on roads increased by almost 17 per cent compared to 2020, indicating an increase in the rate of deaths per 1,000 vehicles in India.

Last year, 1.55 lakh people died in accidents on Indian roads, up from 1.33 lakh in 2020, when several months of the year saw a nationwide lockdown. This means an average of 426 deaths daily or 18 every single hour, which is the highest death figure recorded in any calendar year so far, according to official data.

A majority (59.7 per cent) of the road accidents were due to over-speeding, accounting for 87,050 deaths and injuries to 2.28 lakh persons. Dangerous or careless driving or overtaking contributed to 25.7 per cent of road accidents which caused 42,853 deaths and injuries to 91,893 persons and only 2.8 per cent of the road accidents were due to poor weather conditions.

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Besides the deaths, 3.73 lakh people were injured in 4.03 lakh road accidents — up from 3.54 lakh in 2020 — across the country last year. However, the 2021 accident numbers were significantly lower than those in 2019, when 4.37 lakh mishaps had been recorded, killing 1.54 lakh people.

Fewer accidents, more deaths

It’s to be noted that though the total number of accidents in 2021 came down compared to 2019, more deaths were recorded between the two years.

The rate of deaths per thousand vehicles in 2021 (0.53) was higher than that in 2020 (0.45) and 2019 (0.52) but lower than 2018 (0.56) and 2017 (0.59), the data showed. In 2020, the year of COVID-19 lockdowns, there were 3.54 lakh road accidents in which 3.35 people lakh were injured while in 2019 4.39 lakh were injured.

The maximum increase in number of traffic accident cases from 2020 to 2021 was reported in Tamil Nadu (from 46,443 to 57,090), followed by Madhya Pradesh (from 43,360 to 49,493), Uttar Pradesh (from 30,593 to 36,509), Maharashtra (from 24,908 to 30,086), and Kerala (from 27,998 to 33,051).

“Generally, road accidents have caused more injuries than deaths, but in Mizoram, Punjab, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, road accidents caused more deaths compared to persons injured,” the NCRB stated in its annual report.

For Mizoram, the figures were 64 deaths and 28 injuries in 64 road accidents, while Punjab recorded 4,516 deaths and 3,034 injuries in 6,097 road accidents. In Jharkhand, 4,728 road accidents caused 3,513 deaths and injuries to 3,227 persons, and in Uttar Pradesh, 33,711 road accidents caused 21,792 deaths and injuries to 19,813 persons.

The NCRB data for 2021 also reveals public transport, like buses, were safer than private modes of conveyance, like motorcycles. Of the total deaths in road accidents, 44.5 per cent were riders of ‘two-wheelers’ followed by cars (15.1 per cent), trucks or lorries (9.4 per cent) and buses (3 per cent). Of the total road accidents, 59.7 per cent were reported in rural areas (2.40 lakh cases) and 40.3 per cent in urban areas (1.62 lakh cases), the report added.

Topping the world

Another report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways titled “Road Accidents in India 2019”, admits that India ranked first in road deaths across 199 countries reported in the World Road Statistics, 2018, followed by China and the US.

Also read: Cyrus Mistry will be remembered for fighting the Tatas tooth and nail

Tragically, of those killed, 70 per cent were in the 18-45 age group.

What is significant is that national highways and state highways constitute only 5.04 per cent of all roads, but account for 61.11 percent of all road deaths.