Over-speeding and careless driving were the two major causes of road accidents that claimed 87,050 and 42,853 lives, respectively, in India in 2021.

According to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol contributed to 1.9 per cent of the total accidents, which resulted in injuries to 7,235 people and 2,935 deaths. A total of 1,55,622 people lost their lives due to road accidents in 2021.

“Cause-wise analysis of road accidents revealed that most of the road accidents were due to over-speeding, accounting for 59.7 per cent of the total accidents (2,40,828 out of 4,03,116 cases) which caused 87,050 deaths and injuries to 2,28,274 persons,” the report said.

Dangerous driving and overtaking caused 1,03,629 accidents, which resulted in 42,853 deaths and injuries to 91,893 people. They constituted 25.7 per cent of the total accidents in 2021. Another 2.8 per cent of accidents (11,110 of 4,03,116 cases) were due to poor weather conditions.

Two-wheelers have claimed the highest number of lives — nearly 70,000 people.

“During 2021, two-wheelers have accounted for maximum fatal road accidents (69,240 deaths), contributing 44.5 per cent of total road accidental deaths, followed by cars (23,531 deaths) (15.1 per cent) and trucks or lorries (14,622 deaths) (9.4 per cent),” the report said.

The majority of deaths due to two-wheeler accidents were reported in Tamil Nadu (8,259) and Uttar Pradesh (7,429).

As many as 4,039 of the 23,531 deaths in accidents caused by SUVs, cars and jeeps were reported in Uttar Pradesh (17.2 per cent). Madhya Pradesh accounted for the highest number of deaths due to accidents caused by trucks, lorries and mini trucks (3,423 out of 14,622).

A total of 28.9 per cent (1,337 out of 4,622) and 11.9 per cent (551 out of 4,622) of the total fatal road accidents due to buses were reported in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively.

Overall, poor weather, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and mechanical defects in vehicles caused 3.5 per cent (5,405 deaths), 1.9 per cent (2,935 deaths) and 1.3 per cent (2,022 deaths) of the total deaths, respectively, in 2021.

As many as 11,419 of the total 87,050 deaths due to over-speeding were reported from Tamil Nadu, contributing 13.1 per cent, followed by Karnataka with 8,797 deaths (10.1 per cent). Careless driving and overtaking caused maximum fatalities in Uttar Pradesh (11,479 out of 42,853), which accounted for 26.8 per cent of the total deaths, followed by Rajasthan — 10 per cent (4,299 deaths).

Uttar Pradesh also reported the highest fatalities due to driving under the influence of drugs, accounting for 27.1 per cent, followed by Telangana (11.6 per cent), Jharkhand (11.1 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (9.2 per cent) and Maharashtra (6.4 per cent).

Thirty per cent of accidents (72,333 out of 2,40,747 cases) in rural areas and 29.7 per cent of accidents (48,270 out of 1,62,369 cases) in urban areas took place in residential localities.

Altogether, 7.7 per cent of road accidents in urban areas took place at the pedestrian crossing (12,528 out 1,62,369 cases).

Besides, eight per cent (28,873 out of 4,03,116 cases) of road accidents in the country have taken place near schools, colleges and other educational institutions.

Uttar Pradesh, followed by Tamil Nadu, have reported 24.4 per cent and 9.4 per cent of total deaths due to road accidents near schools or colleges or other educational institutes in urban areas respectively.

Uttar Pradesh also reported the highest fatalities due to road accidents at places near residential areas (urban) accounting for 18.0 per cent (2,969 out of 16,466) of total such deaths in 2021.

Bihar accounted for 14.8 per cent (2,796 out of 18,936) of pedestrian deaths in road accidents.