ROAD ACCIDENTS IN 2017

Key findings for 2017:

• Overall fatalities in road accidents and the total count of such incidents declined marginally. The total number of accidents dropped 3.3% in 2017 to 4.64 lakh, with the overall number of lives lost in these crashes declining 1.9% to 1.47 lakh.
  
  
• However, Pedestrians and cyclists suffered the biggest increase in fatalities in road accidents.
  • The number of pedestrians killed in road accidents jumped by 29.9% to 20,457 and he number of cyclists killed surged by 37.7% to 3,559.
    
    
  • Pedestrians and cyclists together accounted for 16.2% of the total fatalities in road accidents during 2017.
    
    
  
  
  
• Almost 7 out of 10 two-wheeler and four-wheeler users who died in an accident did not follow the mandatory requirement of wearing helmets and seat belts.
  
  
• The top four traffic violations that led to road fatalities are: (1) Over-Speeding accounted for 66.7% of total deaths in road crashes, (2) driving on the wrong side claimed 6.4%, (3) drunken driving2%, and (4) use of mobile phones accounted for 2.1% of total road deaths.
  
  
• Tamil Nadu topped in number of accidents, while P. topped in the number of fatalities.
  
  
• The composition of vehicular population in 2016: Two-wheelers (73.5%), followed by cars, jeeps and taxis (13.1%), other vehicles (8.1%), goods vehicles (4.6%) and buses (0.8%).
  
  
• The increase in personalized means of transport and decline in share of public transport is a major cause for the incidence of road mishaps. The total number of registered motor vehicles in the country grew at the rate of 9.9% between 2006 and 2016.