Sikkim pitfall: NE India records highest road accident mortality rate

Guwahati: Sikkim in northeast India recorded the highest road mortality rate in the country in 2021 despite not having a large road network and registered motor vehicles.

This has been revealed in the Road Accidents in India 2021 report brought out by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, which provides information on various aspects of road accidents in the country during the calendar year 2021.

Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest increase in road accidents in the country in 2021 compared to 2020. The state recorded 283 accidents in 2021 as against 134 in 2020, an increase of 111.2 percent.

The state also recorded the highest number of people killed in accidents in 2021 compared to 2020. In 2021, 157 people died in road accidents, compared to 73 in 2020, which is an increase of 115.1%.

According to the report, during 2021, there were 4,12,432 unfortunate incidents of road accidents in the country in which 1,53,972 people died and 3,84,448 people were injured. During the last year 2020, India saw a remarkable reduction in accidents, deaths and injuries. This was due to the unprecedented outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent strict nationwide lockdown, especially during March-April 2020, which was followed by a gradual unlocking and containment measures in a phased manner. Abolished.

Key indicators related to accidents have performed better in 2021 than in 2019. Compared to 2019, road accidents have decreased by 8.1 percent and injuries by 14.8 percent in 2021. However, deaths due to road accidents have increased by 1.9% compared to 2021. same period in 2019.

“During 2021, Sikkim (8.7) recorded the highest death rate followed by Bihar (6.8). Nearly 50 percent of states have mortality rates above the national average of 4.0 during 2021,” the report said.

Assam ranks fifth in road death rate.

The fatality rate is used to describe road accidents relative to the number of vehicles in a country. It is measured by road accident deaths (persons killed) per 10,000 vehicles. The national average accidental death rate has been declining for several years and stood at 4.0 in 2021.

“The fatality rate is useful for comparing road safety across states, particularly those with similar levels of motorization. On the road in relation to vehicle kilometers driven (total distance traveled by motor vehicles) A comparison of the number of fatalities provides a better indicator of the risk of traveling on a given road network. The number of traffic fatalities in relation to the number of registered vehicles is sometimes used as distance traveled data. serves as an estimate of the mortality rate in the absence of

In general, states with a large road network and registered motor vehicles have relatively high fatality rates.

However, Maharashtra, which has the largest road network (6,28,715-km with 11.6% share in 2019) and the highest number of registered motor vehicles in the country (37.78 million, 11.5% in 2020), In which the mortality rate was recorded at 3.1. , which is lower than the national average.

Mizoram had the highest severity rate in 2021 at 81%. It also had the highest severity rate in 2019, which is estimated by the number of people killed per 100 accidents increasing from 36.0 in 2020 to 37.3 in 2021. Despite some minor fluctuations, the severity of accidents has been increasing since 2000. Better trauma care and traffic calming measures, aimed at reducing crash impact parameters, are needed. About 60 percent of the states have accident severity higher than the national average.
Despite some minor fluctuations, the percentage share of North-Eastern states in total accidents has remained constant during the last five years, 2017 to 2021, the report said.
“Among the northeastern states, Assam recorded the highest number of accidents from 2017 to 2021. Nagaland was second with 746 accidents, followed by Tripura (479) and Manipur (366). Excluding Manipur, North The number of accidents is increasing in eastern states in 2021 compared to 2020. Manipur has 66 fewer accidents in 2021 than in 2020.
Assam recorded a 12.4% increase in road accidents in 2020. Manipur is the only state in the Northeast to record a 15.3 percent decline in accidents in 2020.