New Delhi: Road Accidents in India took 1,50,785 lives in the year 2016 according to data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. In the annual “Road Accidents in India” publication, the government said that a total of 4,80,652 road accidents were reported in 2016.
Youth in the age group of 18 to 35 years accounted for 46.3 per cent (69,851 persons) of the fatalities. Potholes alone accounted for 6,424 road accidents and 2,324 fatalities. Another 9,583 accidents and 3,396 accident deaths were attributed to speed breakers.
The accidents led to 1,50,785 deaths and 4, 94,624 persons injured in the country. This comes out to an average of 1317 accidents and 413 accident deaths take place on Indian roads every day; or 55 accidents and 17 deaths every hour. Compared to 2015, there was a decline of 4.1 per cent in the number of accidents, but the total number of fatal accidents rose by 3.3 per cent to 1,36,071 in 2016.
The National Highways constitute about 2 per cent of the total road network, but they accounted for 29.6 per cent of total road accidents and 34.5 per cent of total number of persons killed.