RTI reponses show that Chennai is among the most accident-prone in the country, ahead of even the capital.

Last year, Tamil Nadu had the highest number of road accidents in the country at 67,232, and the second-highest number of deaths at 15,176. The year before wasn’t much better – the State topped again, with 66,220 accidents and 15,545 deaths.

This data, from responses received to RTIs filed by a Delhi-based NGO, Save Life Foundation, echoes what doctors have been saying – that every day, dozens of victims of road traffic accidents are treated at hospitals across the city.

At Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, an average of 60 road traffic accidents victims is seen per day. “Of these, at least 20 have to be treated for head injuries and around six operated on, on a daily basis,” said Ranganathan Jothi, head of neurosurgery at the department.

Speeding, said Dr. Jothi, is one of the major causes. “On highway, when riders are speeding, even the helmet does not help much. When the body is thrown to the road, it is not so much the impact of the skull on the road as the momentum of the brain that smashes against the skull bone that leads to brain injury,” he said.

So why does the State have the highest number of fatalities? Major risk factors, said Piyush Tewari, CEO, Save Life Foundation, are speeding, drunk driving, not wearing helmets and seatbelts and not ensuring children are protected enough.

“It’s not that there won’t be accidents when people wear seatbelts and helmets. But the number of serious injuries will reduce drastically,” said K. Sridhar, head of the neurosurgery department at Global Hospitals, which sees about 100 cases of road traffic accidents every month.

On weekends, these are mostly drunk driving cases, said Dr. Sridhar. “But in general we have riders not wearing helmets, pedestrians talking on their mobile phones while walking, bumps on the road leading to falls etc. A lot of these can be avoided by wearing seatbelts and helmets,” he said.

One important factor that is often neglected, he said, is the safety of children. “Ideally, children should not be allowed to sit on the front seat of a car. At the back, they should always be wearing seatbelts. And if there is an infant in the care, she should be in an infant carrier, restrained,” said Dr. Sridhar.

In 2013 too, the city didn’t fare very well. As per the National Crime Records Bureau’s statistics for that year, Chennai topped the list of cities with 9,705 accidents leading to 8,700 injuries and 1,247 deaths.

States with most number of accidents and fatalities. (Source: Response to RTIs filed by Save Life Foundation in 2015)

2014:

Cities Accidents Injuries Deaths Tamil Nadu 67,232 7,378 15,176 Maharashtra 61,637 23,175 12,803 Kerala 36,282 26,219 4049 Uttar Pradesh 31,134 22,337 16,287 Rajasthan 24,628 4,890 10,289

2013

Tamil Nadu 66,220 6,543 15,545 Maharashtra 63,019 23,425 13,029 Kerala 35,214 25,281 4,258 Madhya Pradesh 34,034 NR 8,977 Uttar Pradesh 30,615 23,034 16,004

Cities with the highest road crash deaths in 2013 ( Source: National Crime Records Bureau)

Cities Accidents Injuries Deaths Delhi 6,566 5,637 1,530 Chennai 9,705 8,700 1,247 Jaipur 2,908 2,635 783 Bengaluru 5,215 4,334 752 Mumbai 3,026 2,423 668

A total of 4,43,001 road accident cases were reported in 2013 and a total of 1,37,423 deaths occurred. Of these, there were 1,17055 males (85 %) and 20,368 females (15 %).

Road crash deaths in 2013, Age wise

Upto 14 years 7,305 15-29 years 42,453 30-44 years 47,838 45-59 years 28263 Above 60 11564

Source: NCRB