New Delhi:According to the Accidental Deaths & Suicide in India (ADSI) 2020 report, overspeeding accounts for 56.6 per cent of road accident deaths caused in the country, in which as many as 75,333 have died in 2020.
The data released by National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) revealed that a total of 3,54,796 road accidents took place in 2020 causing 1,33,201 deaths.
It said as much as 26.4 per cent of deaths are caused by dangerous, careless driving or overtaking and the second-highest category accounts for 35,219 lives lost.
As many as 4,336 have died due to poor weather conditions. Driving under influence of alcohol, and animal crossing accounted for 2.3 and 1.5 percent of deaths, and they amounted to 3,026 and 1,969 deaths last year, respectively. Mechanical defect caused 1,887 deaths and 1,143 deaths were reported under 'other circumstantial reasons' in road accidents.
State-wise patterns revealed that maximum fatalities in road accidents caused on the national highways. Around 13.6 per cent deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh amounting to 6,137 out of 45,275 deaths, followed by Maharashtra(3,334 deaths) and Karnataka(3,330) with 7.4 percent. Rajasthan accounted for 7.3 percent with 3289 deaths, and Bihar accounted for 6.8 percent with 3,061 deaths in 2020.
The maximum number of accidents in State highways in the country took place in Tamil Nadu 15,471 cases. Uttar Pradesh accounted for maximum fatalities under this category accounting for 5,324 out of 33,824 deaths, followed by Maharashtra 3,365 in 2020. Uttar Pradesh also accounted for maximum fatalities on the expressways with 711 out of 1,169, followed by Haryana with 9.2 percent, West Bengal with 6.1 per cent, Assam with 5.7 per cent and Maharashtra with 5.1 per cent.
There is a significant dip in the number of road accidents in 2020 with 3,54,796 cases being reported when compared to 4,37,396 in 2019. The number of fatalities has also been decreased by 13.9 per cent from 1,54,732 in 2019 to 1,33,201 in 2020.
The rate of deaths per thousand vehicles in 2020 has declined to 0.45 in 2020 from 0.52 in 2019, the NCRB report said.
The number of railway accidents too decreased to 23,018 in 2020 from 27,987 in 2019. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh reported the highest fatalities in railway accidents.
