Uttar Pradesh worst-hit by road accidents, 24,118 cases last year
India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, continues to remain the worst affected by road crashes, with the death toll reaching 24,118 in the previous calendar year
India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, continues to remain the worst affected by road crashes, with the death toll reaching 24,118 in the previous calendar year as partial details of 2024 were published by the government for the first time on Wednesday in Parliament.
UP’s share of the death toll for the entire country remained almost unchanged at 13.61% for 2024 when compared with 13.67% for the period from 2020 to 2023. The trends remain unchanged in the other worst-affected states, such as Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Rajasthan accounted for 55% of all road crashes in 2024, compared to 54.42% during 2020 to 2023.
While it remains the worst affected in real numbers, UP saw the least growth in annual deaths in 2024 among these six states, at 11.37% when compared to the 2020-2023 average. MP’s 2024 death toll saw the sharpest increase among these states with 17% increase in deaths, while Karnataka and Maharashtra both recorded a 13% increase.
The 2024 figures also reveal that Chhattisgarh and West Bengal fared the worst in recording the highest growth in their annual death toll of 26% (to 6,678 deaths) and 16% (to 6,945 deaths) in 2024, when compared to the yearly average road crash deaths between 2020 and 2023 among high death burden states.
Compliance with speeding, seat belt and helmet rules
The data tabled by union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha also revealed that 70% (1,23,947 out of 1,77,77) of India’s road crash deaths were attributed to overspeeding. The data between 2020 and 2023 show that the burden of speeding on the death toll was 69% in that four-year period showing 1.15% increase.
UP showed a 42% increase in deaths due to speeding in 2024 when compared with the average of the preceding four years, while MP and Karnataka witnessed an increase of 18% and 15% respectively.
Similarly, in 2024, 31% of total road crash fatalities (54,493 out of 1,77,177) across the country for not wearing a helmet. This means that the trend remains largely unchanged from 30.51% of the average burden during 2020–2023.
MP fared worst with a 41% increase in deaths due to this aspect to 6541 in 2024 vs the average of 4938 in the preceding four years while UP showed an improvement of 24% with a reduction in deaths due to non-compliance with helmet rule at 4938 in 2024 when compared to the average of 6533 in the period between 2020 and 2023.
The data also showed that 24% of total road crash fatalities (14,595 out of 1,77,177) were due to not wearing a seat belt in 2024. This aspect showed an improvement of 2.6% from 10.30% (65,245 out of 6,33,736) of total fatalities (65,245 out of 6,33,736) of the 2020–2023 period.
Karnataka showed the worst deterioration by 21% in deaths due to non-wearing of seat belts in 2024 to 1,274 from 1050 such deaths annually between 2020 to 2023 while Rajasthan showed a 25% reduction in the same aspect. The state recorded 1109 deaths due to non-complaince of seat belts in 2024 vs the average of 1485 deaths.
These details come after last week, the government told the Parliament that road crash fatalities rose to an all-time high of 177,177 in 2024, meaning 485 people died every day across India in road accidents in 2024, while recording a 2.5% increase from 2023.
