4,12,432 incidences of road accidents during 2021 claimed 1,53,972 lives

New Delhi: 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. 

This report is based on the data/information received from police departments of States/Union Territories collected on calendar year basis in standardized formats as provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) under the Asia Pacific Road Accident Data (APRAD) base project. 

It consists of ten sections and covers information relating to road accidents in the context of road length and vehicular population.

As per the report, there were 4,12,432 unfortunate incidences of road accidents during 2021 which claimed 1, 53,972 lives and caused injuries to 3, 84,448 persons. 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. 

Major indicators related with accidents have performed better in 2021 when compared to 2019. Road accidents decreased by 8.1 percent and injuries decreased by 14.8 percent in 2021 compared to 2019. Fatalities, however, on accounts of road accidents, increased by 1.9 percent in 2021 corresponding to the same period in 2019.

India is committed to bring down fatalities caused by road accidents. As the road accidents are multi-causal which requires multi-pronged measures to mitigate the problems through concerted efforts of all agencies of both Central Government and State Governments. 

The Ministry, along with related organizations and stakeholders has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on Education, Engineering (both of roads and vehicles), Enforcement and Emergency Care.

In this direction the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, has implemented a scheme, “Grant of Financial Assistance for Administering Road Safely Advocacy and Awards for the Outstanding Work Done in the Field of Road Safety”. 

Advancement of Vehicle Engineering play a major role in taking efficient Road Safety measures, therefore, Crash Safety Norm of the vehicles have been revised. 

To strengthen the system of driver licensing and training to improve the competence and capability of drivers, Ministry is setting up model Institutes of Driving Training and Research (IDTR) Centres. 

Also, The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, expected to bring reforms in the various segments such as enforcement of Road Safety norms and guidelines, bring citizen facilitation, transparency, and reduce corruption with the help of information technology and removing intermediaries. 

A central repository, Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) system has been developed by Ministry for reporting, management, claim processing and analysis of road accidents data to enhance road safety in the Country.

A senior official in the ministry told CitySpidey, “The purpose of this publication is to present an in-depth analysis and overview of the road accidents in India. The data and analysis on road accidents contained in this volume will help create awareness, formulate suitable policy, take effective measures and also assist in informed decision making in the area of road safety.”

“Success of road safety initiatives requires active cooperation and participation of all the stakeholders. The ministry hopes that the data on road accidents and the basic analysis contained in this report will be useful to administrators, policy makers, civil society organizations as well as researchers in analysis of road safety issues leading to appropriate policy interventions to achieve reduction in road accidents and resultant fatalities,” he added.