Thursday, 11 Sep, 2025
By: Yash Gupte
In 2021, around 1,53,972 people were killed in road accident cases. Around 4.12 lakh road accidents were reported - up from 3.54 lakh in 2020. Image Source: IANS
This occurred a few weeks after a woman was killed in Delhi's Kanjhawala neighbourhood on January 1 after being dragged for about 12 kilometers by men driving the car
In a latest hit-and-drag incident reported in the National Capital on January 27, 2023, a car hit a scooter and dragged the rider on its roof for about 350 meters in New Delhi’s Keshav Puram. The impact of the collision, according to the FIR recorded at the Keshav Puram police station, caused the scooter rider to be flung from the driver's seat of his two-wheeler and land on the roof of the vehicle, while the pillion rider passed away instantly. The biker was allegedly then pulled for 350 meters, according to the police, who also stated that five people had been detained in connection with the crime. The police added that the rider was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
In a statement to ANI, Usha Rangnani, Deputy Commissioner of Police, North-West Delhi said that “The 5 occupants didn't stop the car and dragged the rider and the scooter for 300-350 meters. PCR van chased them and nabbed 2 accused, rest 3 fled. Later they were arrested. Accused were apparently drunk. Rider of scooter died in hospital and the one in pillion hospitalised. Probe is on.”
This occurred a few weeks after a woman was killed in Delhi's Kanjhawala neighbourhood on January 1 after being dragged for about 12 kilometers by men driving the car, who were said to be drunk at the time. The hit-and-drag case in New Delhi has once again highlighted the rising number of road accidents in the country. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has published the annual report ‘Road accidents in India 2021’. The report provides information on various facets of road accidents in the country during the calendar year 2021. As compared to 2020, the number of road accidents rose by 17 percent in 2021, showing a rise in the rate of deaths per 1,000 vehicles in India. During the previous year 2020, country saw an unprecedented decrease in accidents, fatalities and injuries. This was due to the unusual outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and resultant stringent nation-wide lockdown particularly during March-April, 2020 followed by gradual unlocking and phasing out of the containment measures.
Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
In 2021, around 1,53,972 people were killed in road accident cases. Around 4.12 lakh road accidents were reported - up from 3.54 lakh in 2020. Over half of all fatalities, 87,000 were caused by speeding, while 42,000 were blamed on reckless and unsafe driving. The number of people killed in car crashes has risen by 16.8 percent. (From 1,33,201 in 2020 to 1,55,622 in 2021). According to observations, the number of fatalities per 1,000 cars rose from 0.45 in 2020 to 0.53 in 2021.
During 2021 a total of 4,12,432 accidents were recorded, of which 1,42,163 (34.5 percent) were fatal accidents, 2,46,027 (59.7 percent) were injury (minor and grievous) causing accidents. Among injury causing accidents, 1,26,394 (30.6 percent) were grievous and 1,19,633 (29 percent) were minor injury causing accidents
Two-wheelers were involved in the most fatal road accidents in 2021 (69,240 fatalities), making up 44.5 percent of all deaths on the road, followed by cars (23,531 fatalities; 15.1 percent) and trucks/lorries (14,622 fatalities; 9.4 percent). The majority of two-wheeler-related killings were reported in Tamil Nadu (8,259 fatalities) and Uttar Pradesh (7,429 fatalities), accounting for 11.9 percent and 10.3 percent of all two-wheeler-related fatalities, respectively. However, there were a lot fewer accidents in 2021 as compared to 2019, when there were 4.37 lakh reported accidents and 1.54 lakh fatalities.
Two-wheelers (58,129 fatalities) contributed 43.6 percent of all fatal road accidents in 2020, followed by cars (17,538 fatalities) (13.2 percent) and trucks/lorries (16,993 fatalities) (12.8 percent). Between 2020 and 2021, Tamil Nadu reported the highest increase in the number of traffic accident cases (from 46,443 to 57,090), followed by Madhya Pradesh (from 43,360 to 49,493) and Uttar Pradesh (from 30,593 to 36,509). In 2018, around 1,52,780 people lost their lives in road accidents, out of 4,45,500 lakh accidents were reported.
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD) system has been developed for reporting, management, claim processing and analysis of road accidents data to enhance road safety in the Country.
