Delhi recorded highest number of road accidents at 5,652 last year: MoRTH report

New Delhi: Delhi recorded the highest number of road accidents in 2022 among cities with a population of over a million people, followed by Indore and Jabalpur, according to a report by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

Delhi recorded 5,652 accidents, followed by Indore (4,680), Jabalpur (4,046), Bengaluru (3,822), Chennai (3,452), Bhopal (3,313), Mallapuram (2,991), Jaipur (2,687), Hyderabad (2,516) and Kochi (2,432), the report said.

These 10 cities accounted for 46.37 per cent of the total road accidents in 50 cities with a population of one million each.

A total of 76,752 road accidents were recorded in 2022 in these 50 cities, resulting in a loss of 17,089 lives and causing injuries to 69,052 people. These cities are spread across 17 states and 2 UTs.

The cities accounted for 16.6 per cent of the total accidents and 10.1 per cent of the total accident-related fatalities in the country.

The number of road accidents and fatalities has increased in all million-plus cities except Chennai, Dhanbad, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Patna, and Vizag in 2022 as compared to 2021, the report stated.

In 2022, about 68 per cent of road accident deaths took place in rural areas, whereas urban areas accounted for 32 per cent of such casualties.

Driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, jumping of red lights and use of mobile phones taken together accounted for 7.4 per cent of the total accidents and 8.3 per cent of total deaths, the report said.

The number of accidents per lakh of population increased from 30.3 in 2021 to 33.5 in 2022, the report said, adding that 4,61,312 road accidents occurred in 2022, claiming 1,68,491 lives.