Two-wheelers have highest share in road accidents

MUMBAI: Road accidents in the country decreased by around 4.1% during 2016, with the year seeing 4,80,652 accidents as against 5,01,423 in 2015. However fatalities from accidents rose by about 3.2% during the same period. Nearly 1,50,785 persons were killed in road accidents in 2016 as against 1,46,133 in 2015.This is according to Road Accidents in India , 2016, a compilation of data on various facets of road accidents as furnished by Police Departments of all States/UTs for the calendar year 2016.Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the accident figures for the first half of 2017 show a 3 % reduction in road accidents between January to July 2017, along with a 4.75 % reduction in road accident fatalities.While road accidents have come down from 2,43,870 between January to July 2016 to 2,36,458 during the same period in 2017, fatalities have come down from 79,354 between January to July 2016 to 75,583 during the same period in 2017, the report said. Road accidents deaths have reduced in 25 states and Union Territories in the first half of 2017. Only states like Assam, Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh have seen increase in road accident fatalities between 2-8% during this period.During 2016, 13 States accounted for 86 per cent of the total road accidents in the country, the report said. These are Tamil Nadu, MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, UP, AP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Haryana. Similarly, 13 States accounted for 84 per cent of the total persons killed in road accidents during 2016. These are UP, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, MP, AP, Gujarat, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar.The report shows that two wheelers accounted for the highest share in total number of road accidents (33.8 per cent), followed by cars, jeeps and taxis (23.6 per cent), trucks, tempos, tractors and other articulated vehicles (21.0 per cent), buses (7.8 per cent), auto-rickshaws (6.5 per cent) and other motor vehicles (2.8 per cent).The share of two wheelers in total road accidents increased from 28.8 per cent in 2015 to 33.8 per cent in 2016, the report said.Road users on two-wheelers are the most vulnerable; constituting 34.8 per cent of total persons killed in 2016. The other road users killed in road accidents are cars, taxies, vans and other light and medium motor vehicles - 17.9 per cent; trucks - 11.2 per cent; pedestrians - 10.5 per cent; buses - 6.6 per cent; auto rickshaws - 4.7 per cent; and others motor vehicles - 10.6 per cent.Based on the data reported by police, drivers’ fault is single most important factor responsible for road accidents (84 per cent) on all roads in the country during 2016. Intake of alcohol/drugs by drivers resulted in 14,894 road accidents (3.7 per cent) and 6,131 fatalities (5.1 per cent). The act of talking on mobile phones while driving has resulted in 4, 976 road accidents, 2,138 road accident deaths and injuries to 4,746 number of persons during the calendar year 2016. Overloaded vehicles caused 61,325 (12.8 per cent) road accidents and 21,302 (14.1 per cent) deaths in 2016.