Dubious distinction: State ranked 4th in road accidents

Karnataka is in the fourth position in the country among the top five states for road accidents in 2018, while Bengaluru reported third-highest accidents in the country among major cities.

As per the annual report ‘Road Accidents in India, 2018’ brought out by the Union Road Transport Ministry, though road accidents reduced in Karnataka last year compared to the previous year with 41,707 in 2018, against 42,542 in 2017, fatalities increased.

The death due to accidents in the state was 10,990 in 2018, compared to 10,609 in 2017, clearly indicating the severity of road mishaps.

Tamil Nadu remained top in the country with 63,920 road accidents, reporting 65,502 deaths (13.7% of the total accidents in the country in 2018).

In Bengaluru, the accidents, as well as deaths due to mishaps, also increased. The city reported 4,611 accidents in 2018 compared to 2,297 in 2017. In 2018 the city reported 686, deaths while it was 653 in 2017.

Among 40 million-plus residents cities across the country, Bengaluru is in the third position in terms of accidents, while in terms of fatalities the city is in the fifth position.

“Chennai ranks first followed by Delhi, Bengaluru, Bhopal, and Indore in terms of the number of accidents in 2018. While in terms of those killed in 2018, Delhi ranks first, followed by Chennai, Kanpur, Jaipur, and Bengaluru, said the report.

In the country as a whole, road accidents increased marginally by 0.46% during 2018 with the year seeing 4.67 lakh road accidents as against 4.64 lakh in 2017, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.

The fatalities during the same period also rose about 2.37% and 1.51 lakh persons were killed in 2018 as against 1.47 lakh in 2017.