India’s high rate of road deaths could increase

India’s rate of fatal road crashes is high, with one death occurring every four minutes on average according to research. Worse still, the study also shows that India’s road deaths could increase further to a fatality every three minutes on average by 2020. The rate of road related fatalities is increasing as vehicle numbers grow in the country. Safety measures and enforcement measures are inadequate, which is why the problem is continuing to grow. The cost of this high road death rate is an economic burden
October 12, 2015 Read time: 1 min
India’s rate of fatal road crashes is high, with one death occurring every four minutes on average according to research. Worse still, the study also shows that India’s road deaths could increase further to a fatality every three minutes on average by 2020. The rate of road related fatalities is increasing as vehicle numbers grow in the country. Safety measures and enforcement measures are inadequate, which is why the problem is continuing to grow. The cost of this high road death rate is an economic burden the country can little afford, not to mention the impact at a human scale. According to the study, the cost of road deaths is a drain on the economy to a tune of US$ 58.66 billion/year at present, around 3% of India’s GDP.

Related Content

  • UN highlights safety pandemic on roads
    November 23, 2015
    Jean Todt, special envoy of UN secretary general on the challenge of road safety Jean Todt, president of, Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and special envoy of the UN secretary general on road safety spoke about the next steps in tackling the plague of road accidents. “Every year, on the world's roads, almost 1.3 million people die. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), road traffic crashes are now the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause of death am
    Read More
  • Concern at poor US road safety
    August 29, 2018
    Concern is being expressed in the US by the National Safety Council (NSC), which believes the country’s road safety is making no progress. According to the NSC, the current trends suggest that the US will see no reductions in road deaths for the third consecutive year. Its preliminary estimates suggest that the US will again have a road fatality rate of around 40,000 for 2018. There were around 18,720 road fatalities for the first six months of 2018, according to the NSC’s data, compared with around 18,770
    Read More
  • Europe’s roads are safer, but concerns continue
    July 16, 2019
    New data shows that Europe’s rural roads have seen a major improvement in safety levels. For the 2010 to 2017 period, road deaths on rural roads decreased more quickly than those for urban roads. Urban road safety is now becoming a key concern. Of particular concern for urban traffic is the high casualty rate amongst vulnerable road users (VRUs), which represent around 70% of those being killed. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists still face unacceptably high risks of being killed or seriously injured o
    Read More
  • Vietnam and Laos addressing road safety
    February 29, 2012
    Accident statistics from Laos and Vietnam reveal a growing awareness of the problems needing attention.
    Read More

Highlighted Content