NEW DELHI, Sept 6 - Assam has recorded the highest number of 7,435 road accidents in the North East, according to a report �Road Accidents in India 2016�, released by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari here today.
The report reveals that 4,80,652 road accidents took place in 2016 all over the country claiming 1,50,785 lives and leaving another 4,94,624 persons injured.
In the North East while Assam has recorded the highest road accidents, Meghalaya has recorded the second highest road accidents of 620, Manipur 533, Tripura 557, Arunachal Pradesh 249, Mizoram 83 and Nagaland 75.
In Assam, death in road accident has shown an increasing trend. In 2016, 2,572 persons have lost their lives. In 2015, 2,397 were killed in road accidents, in 2014, 2,522 and in 2013, 2,441 were killed. The only silver lining is that the rate of injury in road accidents has shown a declining trend. In 2016, 5,127 persons were injured, while the highest number of injuries were recorded in 2015, when 7,068 persons were injured in road accidents in Assam. In 2014, 6,499 persons were injured and in 2013, 6,609 were injured.
However, Gadkari said that road accidents in the country have decreased by around 4.1 per cent during 2016, as against 5,01,423 in 2015. However, fatalities resulting from these accidents have risen by about 3.2 per cent during the same period.
Gadkari also informed that the positive trend of 2016 is further bolstered by the accident figures for the first half of 2017, where there has been a 3 per cent reduction in road accidents between January to July 2017, along with a 4.75 per cent 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. Road accident 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 per cent during this period.
During 2016, 13 states accounted for 86 per cent of the total road accidents in the country.
The 50 million-plus cities accounted for 18.7 per cent in total road accidents in the country, 11.8 per cent in total persons killed in road accidents and 16.7 per cent in total persons injured in road accidents. Chennai had the highest number of road accidents (7,486) while Delhi had the highest number of deaths (1,591)) due to road accidents. Accident severity for the combined 50 million-plus cities was 19.8 in 2016 as against 14.9 per cent in 2015.
