Two wheelers claimed highest number of lives in accidents in 2021: NCRB report

Two-wheelers have claimed the highest number of lives — nearly 70,000 people — in road accidents in the country during 2021.

According to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), as many as 1,55,622 people lost their lives due to road accidents in 2021.

“During 2021, two-wheelers have accounted for maximum fatal road accidents (69,240 deaths), contributing 44.5 per cent of total road accidental deaths, followed by cars (23,531 deaths) (15.1 per cent ) and trucks or lorries (14,622 deaths) (9.4 per cent ),” the report said.

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The majority of deaths due to two-wheelers accidents were reported in Tamil Nadu (8,259 deaths) and Uttar Pradesh (7,429 deaths), accounting for 11.9 per cent and 10.3 per cent of total deaths due to two-wheeled vehicles respectively.

A large number of deaths due to SUV, car, and jeep accidents (4,039 out of 23,531) were reported in Uttar Pradesh (17.2 per cent ) of total such accidents and large numbers of deaths due to trucks, lorries, mini trucks accidents (3,423 out of 14,622) were reported in Madhya Pradesh accounting for 23.4 per cent.

A total of 28.9 per cent (1,337 out of 4,622) and 11.9 per cent (551 out of 4,622) of total fatal road accidents due to buses were reported in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively. Deaths of 14.8 per cent (2,796 out of 18,936) of pedestrians in road accidents were reported in Bihar in 2021.

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The month-wise distribution of 'Road Accidents' shows that most of the road accidents were reported in the month of January, 40,235 cases, contributing to 10 per cent of total road accidents.

Most of the road accidents (81,410 out of 4,03,116 cases) were reported from 18:00 hrs to 21:00 hrs (Night), accounting for 20.2 per cent of total road accidents.

During 18:00 hrs to 21:00 hrs (Night), majority of road accidents were reported in Tamil Nadu (14,415 cases), Madhya Pradesh (9,798 cases) and Kerala (6,765 cases).

Time period '15:00 hrs to 18:00 (Day)' and '12:00 hrs to 15:00 hrs (Day)' accounted for 17.8 per cent (71,711 cases) and 15.5 per cent (62,587 cases) of total road accidents during 2021.

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As per road classification, the National Highways which has a share of only 2.1 per cent of total road length (1.33 lakh km out of 63.9 lakh km) accounted for the highest road accidents, contributing 30.3 per cent of total road accidents.

State highways having the share of 2.9 per cent (1.87 lakh km) of total road length have reported 23.9 per cent of road accidents in the country.

However, a considerable number of road accidents were also reported on other roads. These accounted for 45.8 per cent of total such accidents in 2021.

A total of 1,899 cases of road accidents were also reported on Expressways which caused injuries to 1,214 persons and deaths of 1,356 persons.

The highest numbers of deaths in road accidents were reported on the National Highways accounting for 34.5 per cent (53,615 out of 1,55,622) followed by State Highways (25.1 per cent ) (39,040 deaths). A total of 62,967 (40.5 per cent ) people died due to road accidents on other roads in 2021.

State and UT-wise patterns revealed that maximum fatalities in road accidents on the National Highways took place in Uttar Pradesh (13.5 per cent) 7,212 out of 53,615 deaths followed by Tamil Nadu (10 per cent) 5,360 deaths, Maharashtra (7.5 per cent) 3,996 deaths, Rajasthan (6.8 per cent ) 3,653 deaths and Andhra Pradesh (6.7 per cent) 3,602 deaths during 2021.

A maximum number of accidents on State Highways in the country occurred in Tamil Nadu (18,560 cases). Maximum fatalities in road accidents on State Highways were reported in Uttar Pradesh (5,891 out of 39,040 deaths) which accounted for 15.1 per cent of total deaths due to road accidents on State Highways, followed by Tamil Nadu (5,067) 13.0 per cent during 2021.

Maximum fatalities on the Expressways were reported in Uttar Pradesh contributing 71.2 per cent (965 out 1,356) followed by Haryana (9.3 per cent ), Maharashtra (6.4 per cent), Punjab (3.2 per cent ) and West Bengal (3.0 per cent ) during 2021.