16 Indians died every hour in road accidents in 2014

Sixteen Indians died in road accidents every hour in 2014, most of them on two-wheelers, and a majority of them as a result of overspeeding and careless driving, according to the latest data by National Crime Records Bureau.

According to the NCRB, a total of 4,50,898 accidents led to 1,41,526 deaths and 4,77,731 injuries across the country in 2014. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu account for a third of all traffic accident deaths, it said.

While Tamil Nadu had the maximum number of road accident cases and persons injured, Uttar Pradesh accounted for most fatalities due to road accidents.

In cities, maximum number of deaths was reported in Delhi (2,199), followed by Chennai (1,046), Bhopal (1,015) and Jaipur (844).

Here is a complete state-wise break-up of road accident cases, number of injured and deaths:

Accidents and visibility not connected

The maximum number of traffic accidents happened in May or 9.2% of the total and not during the winter months when the visibility is low due to foggy conditions.

Here is a month-wise break-up of accidents.

And most of the road accidents or 17.26% of total were reported between 3pm and 6pm and not during the night when visibility is relatively less under the light.

Two-wheelers caused the most deaths - 26.4% - in the country, followed by trucks and lorries at 20.1%, cars at 12.1% and buses at 8.8%.

The national highways, which share only 1.58% of total road length, accounted for 32.6% of fatal road accidents, followed by state highways at 27.8%, expressways at 1.27% and the rest of them happened on regular roads.

Causes

Most of the road accident deaths or 47.9% was due to over speeding, followed by dangerous or careless driving at 41.5%, poor weather at 5.3%, drink driving at 2.6% and defect in vehicle at 2.8%.

Increase in accidents, vehicles but reduction in deaths

As compared to 2010, in 2014 the number of road accidents have gone up from around 4,30,600 to 4,50,898, marking a 4.7% increase. The number of vehicles has also increased, from around 1,14,953 to 1,59,490, which is a 38.7% increase.

But when it comes to the number of persons killed, rate of deaths per thousand vehicles has decreased from 1.2 in 2010 to 0.9 in 2014.