New Delhi:

The number of road accidents in India went up by an alarming 12 per cent to over 4.6 lakh in 2022, resulting in the death of 19 persons every hour, according to a report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The report showed that 53 road accidents take place every hour in the country.

“A total of 4,61,312 road accidents have been reported by states and Union Territories (UTs) during the calendar year 2022, which claimed 1,68,491 lives and caused injuries to 4,43,366 persons.

“This marks an increase of 11.9 per cent in accidents, 9.4 per cent in fatalities, and 15.3 per cent in injuries compared to the previous year,” the report titled ‘Road accidents in India — 2022’ said.

As per the report, for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, the fatal road accident victims largely constituted young people in the productive age groups.

“Young adults in the age group of 18 – 45 years accounted for 66.5 per cent of victims during 2022,” the report said, adding that people in working age group of 18 – 60 years constitute 83.4 per cent of total road accident fatalities.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has set a target to reduce the number of accidents in the country and the resulting deaths by half by 2024.

In 2022, total 1,68,491 road accident fatalities were reported by states/UTs which is higher than 2021 reported figure of 1,53,972.

As per the report,  during 2022, a total of 4,61,312 accidents were recorded in the country, of which, 1,51,997 (32.9 per cent ) took place on National Highways (NH), including expressways, 1,06,682 (23.1 per cent ) on state highways and the remaining 2,02,633 (43.9 per cent) on other roads.

“Out of the total of 1,68,491 fatalities reported in 2022, 61,038 (36.2 per cent) were on national highways, 41,012 (24.3 per cent) were on state highways and 66,441 (39.4 per cent) were on other roads,” it added.

Among vehicle categories involved in road accidents, two-wheelers for the second consecutive year, accounted for the highest share in total accidents and fatalities during 2022.

The report said light vehicles comprising cars, jeeps and taxis together came at distant second.

In terms of road-user categories, it said the share of two-wheeler riders in total fatality was the highest(44.5 per cent ) during 2022 followed the pedestrian road-users with 19.5 per cent of persons killed in road accidents.

Amongst states, Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents on National Highways in 2022, whereas, the number of persons killed in road accident was the highest in Uttar Pradesh.

“Tamil Nadu with 64,105 accidents (13.9  per cent) recorded the highest number of road accidents in 2022 followed by Madhya Pradesh (54,432 i.e.,11.8 per cent).

“Uttar Pradesh (22,595 i.e., 13.4  per cent) topped the states in respect of the number of fatalities due to road accidents followed by Tamil Nadu (17,884 i.e., 10.6 per cent),” it said.

In 2022, under the category of traffic rule violations, over speeding was a major killer, accounting for 71.2 per cent of the persons killed followed by driving on the wrong side (5.4 per cent).

The report showed that 47.7 per cent of accidents, 55.1 per cent of deaths and 48.2 per cent of injuries occurred in open area, i.e.,locations which normally do not have any human activities in the vicinity.

Under road feature category, 67 per cent of accidents took place on straight roads,whereas accidents on curved roads,pothole roads and steep grade together accounted for only 13.8 per cent of the total road accidents in 2022.

As per the report, the total number of fatal road accidents   increased from 1,42,163 in 2021 to 1,55,781 in 2022, registering an increase of 9.6 per cent corresponding to the same period last year An accident, which results in death of one or more person, is a fatal accident.

‘Hit from Back’ accounted for the largest share in total accidents death (19.5 per cent) in 2022 ,followed by ‘Hit and Run’ and ‘Head on Collision’ which accounted for 18.1 per cent and 15.7 per cent, respectively.

‘Hit from Back’ accounted for the largest share in total accidents (21.4 per cent), followed by ‘Head on Collision’ and ‘others’ which account for 16.9 per cent and 16.5 per cent, respectively.

The annual report is based on the data/information received from police departments of states/UTs on a calendar year basis in standardised 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. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

In cases related to compensation claims in road accidents, the case is not expected to be proved like a criminal trial, the High Court of Karnataka has said.

“It is well known that in a case relating to motor accident claims, the claimants are not required to prove the case as it is required to be done in a criminal trial. The court must keep this distinction in mind,” the court said recently while dismissing an appeal filed by an insurance company challenging the compensation awarded to an accident victim’s family.

The Division Bench of Justices K Somashekar and Rajesh Rai K was hearing two appeals — one filed by Bajaj Allianz Insurance and another filed by Chikka Thayamma and Rame Gowda, the parents of one Divakar M R who died in an accident on August 13, 2019.

Divakar met with an accident near Durgaparameshwari Temple in Nagarabhavi while riding a motorcycle.

A car is said to have caused the accident resulting in his death in a nearby private hospital where he was taken for treatment. Divakar was working in a bar and restaurant and earning Rs 18,000 per month.

The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) awarded compensation of Rs 15,43,600 to the parents of Divakar. They approached the HC seeking enhancement of compensation. The insurer approached the HC stating that the complaint about the accident did not mention the involvement of the car and it was the negligence of Divakar that had resulted in his death.

The HC, in its judgement, said strict proof of the accident need not be proved by the claimants for compensation.

“A holistic view of the evidence has to be taken into consideration by the tribunal and strict proof of an accident caused by a particular vehicle in a particular manner need not be established by the claimants. The claimants have to establish their case on the touchstone of preponderance of probabilities,” the HC said.

Dismissing the appeal filed by the insurer, the HC said: “The standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt cannot be applied while considering the petition seeking compensation on account of death or injury in a road traffic accident. Therefore, the domain it is vested with the tribunal in appreciating evidence in terms of social justice and it should be extended and considered to a greater extent but not in conjectures and surmises but more credentiality must be given to that aspect.

The HC also found the compensation awarded by the MACT to be correct and dismissed the appeal of the victim’s parents for enhancement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)