NEW DELHI: The number of road fatalities increased to 417 per day last year till September, the road transport ministry told Rajya Sabha on Monday. In 2018, road accidents claimed 415 lives a day.In a written reply, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said road fatalities were maximum at over 1.5 lakh in 2018 and stood at close to 1.13 lakh till September 30, 2019, as per provisional estimates shared by states.This increase was registered despite several government efforts to put a check on road deaths, including passage of amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act with provisions for higher penalties for violators of traffic rules. “The impact of the change in law can be assessed when we get data of road accidents and fatalities between September and December. The new provisions came into effect on September 1. It will be interesting to see the trends in states that have notified the law and others who are yet to fall in line,” a government official said.The marginal rise in fatalities also comes as bad news just two weeks before global leaders meet in Stockholm to assess the progress made by countries to check road deaths.