Delhi tops list in road accident deaths: NCRB

With 4,980 and 3,653 road crashes, respectively, Bengaluru and Chennai held the second and third positions on the list.

The national capital was the most unsafe for road users in 2023 among 53 megacities across India, according to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report published on Monday.

In 2021, Delhi reported 4,720 road accidents that claimed 1,239 lives and left 3,989 people injured. (Ht Archive)

Data in NCRB’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India showed that nearly four people lost their lives and at least 13 were injured every day in 2023. Delhi witnessed 5,715 road crashes that accounted for 8.2% of the total 69,910 such incidents reported across the megacities during the year.

With 4,980 and 3,653 road crashes, respectively, Bengaluru and Chennai held the second and third positions on the list.

In terms of fatal crashes, Delhi saw the highest number of deaths with 1,457 killed in 2023. For the same year, Bengaluru, which reported 915 road accident deaths, ranked second, while Jaipur, which reported 848 deaths, was third on the list, the NCRB data showed.

To be sure, with over 15 million registered vehicles, Delhi nearly equals the combined number of registered vehicles in three other major cities – Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, the Union road transport and highways ministry told the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session in July. The four mega cities have nearly 31 million registered vehicles in total, the ministry said.

The data for 2023 also marked a decline from 2022 when the city witnessed 1,461 deaths in 5,560 road accidents which left 4,713 injured, the NCRB report further said. In 2021, Delhi reported 4,720 road accidents that claimed 1,239 lives and left 3,989 people injured.

The 53 mega cities included Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Indore, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Amritsar and others.

The NCRB’s report showed that, of the total deaths in fatal road crashes in Delhi, two-wheelers accounted for 622 deaths followed by cars, which accounted for 327 deaths. A total of 95 deaths involved three-wheelers, including autos, while trucks and buses accounted for 94 and 34 deaths, respectively. The total number of deaths involving bicycles was 78 in 2023, the NCRB data showed.

Among the 53 megacities, Delhi also topped the list of deaths in road accidents at pedestrian crossing in 2023. While 159 people were killed in Delhi, Durg-Bhilai Nagar city in Chhattisgarh was second in the list with 115 such deaths.

According to the Delhi Traffic Police, over-speeding, poorly lit stretches, faulty road designs, dangerous driving, and drunken driving are the major contributors to fatal road crashes in Delhi. The decline in the number of fatal road crashes, additional commissioner of police (traffic) Dinesh Kumar Gupta, said, were because of measures adopted by the traffic police.

“The number of fatal road accidents is dipping every year since 2022 due to multiple measures taken by the Delhi Traffic Police. It includes identifying accident hotspots, conducting surveys to understand the problems and accordingly find solutions. Our regular analysis on road crashes shows that nearly 20% of the deaths are self-hit cases, caused by over-speed and drunken driving, especially at night. People leave from pubs and bars, and while driving, crash into dividers, walls, or other things,” he said.

Road safety experts said that the Delhi Traffic Police and other agencies concerned should take necessary measures to curb road crashes and the related fatalities in the city.

“The number of road accidents and deaths in the city has decreased a lot over the past ten years, but is now hovering around a saturation level. This is because the measures currently being taken are not adequate. There are hardly around 200 speed enforcement cameras, only in around 75 locations. Projects such as the intelligent traffic management system (ITMS) have been in limbo for the last 15 years, and should be implemented. Additionally, people’s mindsets about driving also have to be improved, and measures should be taken to improve driving behaviour,” said S. Velmurugan, head of the traffic engineering and safety division at the Central Road Research Institute.

Other than the road accidents, Delhi also reported the maximum railway accidents among the 53 megacities. Of a total of 1,549 railway accidents, Delhi reported the maximum 827 such accidents.