Over 1.20 lakh fatal accidents took place in 2020 in India; victims mostly young

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has informed that a total of 1,20,806 fatal accidents were reported during the calendar year 2020, and the deceased were largely young people in productive age groups. A report titled 'Road accidents in India - 2020', said that out of a total 1,20,806 fatal accidents, 43,412 (35.9 per cent) accidents happened on National Highways, 30,171 (25 per cent) on State Highways and 47,223 (39.1 per cent) on other roads.

However, the report informed that the total number of fatal accidents in 2020 is 12.23 per cent lower than the 2019 figure of 1,37,689. "Road accident severity measured by the number of persons killed per 100 accidents, however, saw an increase of 2.3 percentage points during 2020," the report stated.

The road accidents report further stated that a total of 3,66,138 road accidents have been reported by states and Union Territories (UTs) during the calendar year 2020, which claimed 1,31,714 lives and caused 3,48,279 injuries. It also noted that the total number of people killed in road accidents during 2020 has been less than that of 2019 by 12.6 per cent.

The report further informed that it is for the third consecutive year in 2020 that the fatal road accident victims largely constitute young people in the productive age groups. The young adults in the age group of 18-45 years accounted for 69 per cent of victims during 2020, while people in the working age group of 18-60 years share 87.4 per cent of total road accident fatalities.

Another notable point mentioned in the report is that both road accidents and accident-related killings are more of a rural phenomenon than an urban phenomenon as in 2020, 68 per cent of road accidents deaths took place in rural areas. On the other hand, urban areas accounted for 32 per cent of total deaths in the country.

(with inputs from PTI)