{"id":33525,"date":"2024-12-01T10:15:14","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T04:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=33525"},"modified":"2025-04-19T23:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T17:40:04","slug":"road-fatalities-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/road-fatalities-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Fatalities in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in the News?<\/li>\n<li>Road Accident Statistics for 2023<\/li>\n<li>Key Causes for Road Accidents<\/li>\n<li>Regional Disparities<\/li>\n<li>Government Initiatives<\/li>\n<li>Global Context &amp; Learnings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in the News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India continues to grapple with a severe road safety crisis, with Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, <strong>Nitin Gadkari<\/strong>, revealing distressing figures for 2023.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking at a road safety event in Lucknow, Gadkari highlighted the <strong>magnitude of road accidents<\/strong>, their causes, and ongoing efforts to mitigate this critical issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Road Accident Statistics for 2023<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Total Crashes<\/strong>: Over <strong>4.80 lakh road accidents<\/strong> occurred in 2023, marking a <strong>4.2% increase<\/strong> compared to 2022.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fatalities<\/strong>: Over <strong>1.72 lakh deaths<\/strong> were reported, a <strong>2.6% rise<\/strong> from 2022&#8217;s 1.68 lakh fatalities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Daily Impact<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>1,317 crashes<\/strong> and <strong>474 deaths<\/strong> occurred daily in 2023, translating to <strong>55 crashes<\/strong> and <strong>20 fatalities<\/strong> every hour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Crash Severity<\/strong>: Fatalities per 100 crashes marginally decreased from <strong>36.5 in 2022<\/strong> to <strong>36 in 2023<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Key Causes for Road Accidents<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Human Behaviour<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Gadkari emphasized that <strong>human error<\/strong> is the leading cause of accidents, driven by <strong>disregard for laws<\/strong> and unsafe practices like over-speeding and reckless driving.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Over-speeding<\/strong> accounted for <strong>68.1%<\/strong> of road crash deaths in 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Helmet and Seatbelt Non-Usage<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>54,000 deaths<\/strong> were attributed to not wearing helmets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>16,000 fatalities<\/strong> occurred due to seatbelt non-compliance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pedestrian and Two-Wheeler Vulnerability<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Pedestrians accounted for <strong>20%<\/strong> of road crash fatalities.<\/li>\n<li>Two-wheeler users made up <strong>44.8%<\/strong> of fatalities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Infrastructure Deficiencies<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Gadkari acknowledged the presence of <strong>potholes<\/strong>, lack of <strong>underpasses<\/strong>, and insufficient <strong>foot overbridges<\/strong>, which significantly contribute to accidents.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Black spots<\/strong> (high-risk areas) on national highways are being addressed with a <strong>\u20b940,000 crore budget<\/strong> for rectification.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other Factors<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Overloaded vehicles<\/strong>: Accounted for <strong>12,000 deaths<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Unlicensed driving<\/strong>: Contributed to <strong>34,000 crashes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Old vehicles and outdated technology<\/strong>: Further exacerbated risks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Regional Disparities<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Uttar Pradesh (UP)<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>UP recorded the <strong>highest number of road accidents and fatalities<\/strong> in India, with <strong>44,000 accidents<\/strong> and <strong>23,650 deaths<\/strong> in 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Notable figures:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>1,800 deaths<\/strong> were of individuals below 18 years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>10,000 fatalities<\/strong> involved pedestrians and two-wheeler users.<\/li>\n<li><strong>8,726 deaths<\/strong> were caused by over-speeding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Government Initiatives<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Infrastructure Improvements<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Identifying and addressing black spots on highways.<\/li>\n<li>Enhancing road designs and adding safety measures like underpasses and foot overbridges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Automobile Engineering<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Directives to improve vehicle safety features to reduce fatalities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Awareness Campaigns<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Promoting road safety through public awareness initiatives.<\/li>\n<li>Advocating for states to include <strong>Rules of the Road<\/strong> in school curriculums.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ambitious Goals<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Despite aiming to reduce accidents by 50% by 2024, the progress remains insufficient, indicating the need for intensified efforts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Global Context &amp; Learnings<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s road safety challenges are among the most severe globally.<\/li>\n<li>According to the <strong>World Bank<\/strong>, poor road infrastructure, coupled with rapid urbanization and increasing vehicular traffic, exacerbates the problem.<\/li>\n<li>Countries like <strong>Sweden<\/strong> and the <strong>Netherlands<\/strong> have successfully implemented the <strong>Vision Zero initiative<\/strong>, targeting zero road fatalities through stringent policies and advanced road designs.<\/li>\n<li>India can adopt similar approaches to create safer roads.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1. What is E-Challan?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The e-Challan is a computer-generated challan launched by Indian traffic police to penalise traffic rule violators. It is an automatic electronic ticketing system that notifies drivers who violate traffic regulations.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2. How does an electronic toll collection system work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When the vehicle passes a roadside toll reader device, a radio signal from the reader triggers the transponder, which transmits back an identifying number which registers the vehicle&#8217;s use of the road, and an electronic payment system charges the user the toll.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/business\/india-road-accidents-fatalities-globally-deaths-road-crashes-gadkari-9698933\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>India continues to top road accidents fatalities globally, with over 1.72 lakh deaths in road crashes in 2023, says Gadkari<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 4.80 lakh road accidents occurred in 2023, marking a 4.2% increase compared to 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}