Death on the Roads

Road deaths almost doubled in twenty years

Deaths rose every year until 2011, held near 1.4–1.5 lakh for most of the 2010s, dipped during the 2020 lockdown, and have set a new record each year since. The 2019 law that raised traffic fines up to tenfold did not reverse the trend.

The world began cutting road deaths; India did not

Between 2010 and 2021 road deaths worldwide fell 5%, to 1.19 million a year, even as the number of vehicles grew. Ten countries, including Japan, Norway and the UAE, more than halved theirs. India’s reported deaths rose 14% over the same years, and kept rising to 2024.

India’s death rate is middling, but it has not fallen

Measured per person, India is not an outlier: by WHO’s model its rate of 15.6 is below the world’s and below the typical country at its income. What stands out is that it did not move in fifteen years. China, Brazil, Morocco and Thailand cut their rates by between a sixth and nearly a third; Japan and Britain by more than half.

115 of 183 countries made their roads safer; India stayed where it was

Most countries, rich and poor, lowered their road death rate as they grew. India’s change was zero to one decimal place. Its large and growing population means that a flat rate still produces more deaths each year.

Two in three of the dead were on two wheels or on foot

Indian roads are built for cars and trucks but used mostly by people on scooters, motorcycles and foot. Two-wheeler riders were 46% of the dead and pedestrians 21%. Two-thirds of those killed in 2023 were aged 18 to 45, in their working years.

Speed, and no helmet

Police attribute two-thirds of deaths to overspeeding. More than 54,000 people died without a helmet and 16,000 without a seatbelt, though both are compulsory. Nearly one death in five was a hit-and-run. These are failures of enforcement, not of law.

National highways are 2% of roads and carry over a third of the deaths

National highways carry about 40% of all road traffic, so their share of deaths roughly matches their share of traffic. The problem is how they are used: fast trucks and cars share lanes with two-wheelers, tractors and people on foot, often with no crossing for kilometres.

India’s official count may miss a third to a half of road deaths

Police records miss deaths that occur later in hospital, or that are never reported. WHO’s 2018 report put India’s road deaths at about 3 lakh in 2016, twice the official count. WHO’s newer model is lower but still about 43% above the police figure for 2019. Whatever the true number, it is higher than the one that guides policy.

Three numbers that need a second look