12% Rise In Road Accidents In India, Speeding Is Major Factor: Report

India saw a 12% rise in road accidents last year, showed a latest government report, with speeding being termed as one of the major causes behind accidents and deaths across the country.

As many as 4,61,312 road accidents were recorded in 2022 as compared to 4,12,432 in 2021, clocking an 11.9% rise, showed the report released by the transport ministry.

Last year, 1,68,491 people died and 4,43,366 people were injured in road accidents, a 9.4% rise in deaths and 15.3% in injuries over the previous year.

Besides speeding which led to over 3.3 lakh road mishaps in 2022, the report also attributed the accidents to rash driving, drink driving and traffic rule violations.

"In 2022, under the category of Traffic Rule Violations, over speeding is a major killer, accounting for 71.2 percent of the persons killed followed by driving on the wrong side (5.4 %)," the report said.

Over 10,000 accidents occurred due to driving under the influence of alcohol during this period, the data showed. A sharp increase was also recorded in accidents due to jumping red lights - from 2,203 in 2021 to 4,021 in 2022, an 82.55% rise over the year.

Over 50,000 people died in bike accidents in 2022 and were not wearing helmets. "During 2022, a total of 50,029 persons were killed who were not wearing helmet, of which 35,692 (71.3%) persons were drivers and 14,337 (28.7%) were passengers," the report said.

As many as 16,715 people who were not wearing seat belts died in road accidents last year. This includes 8,384 drivers and 8,331 passengers.