NEW DELHI: In the past decade (2014-23), around 15.3 lakh people have been killed in road crashes — that’s more than the population of the Union Territory of Chandigarh and nearly equivalent to that of Bhubaneswar — despite the Central govt making repeated global commitments to reduce road fatalities and the Supreme Court’s interventions to curb such deaths.
The Union road transport ministry’s data shows that the road death rate in the country is around 250 per 10,000 km. In the US, China and Australia, the corresponding figures are 57, 119 and 11, respectively.

In the preceding decade (2004-13), 12.1 lakh lives were lost in road crashes, as per data collated by road transport ministry. While the increase in fatalities in the past decade must be seen against the backdrop of quantum jump in population, road length and number of vehicles, experts say not much effort has been put into curbing this massive loss of lives.
Government data show that the number of registered vehicles has more than doubled from 15.9 crore in 2012 to around 38.3 crore in 2024 and the road length has gone up from 48.6 lakh km in 2012 to 63.3 lakh km in 2019 as per the latest published data.

Experts said that increase in road length and vehicles can’t be the reason for more people dying every year. They added that while it is well known and often highlighted that road safety is a multi-sectoral issue requiring greater cooperation among govt departments, stakeholders, and non-profit entities, not much has been made in this direction, with agencies concerned continuing to work in silos.
Former top cops also told TOI that while explanations are called from officers for a single unsolved murder, such an action is unheard of in case of fatal road crashes. “Top officers hardly seek explanation from juniors even if there are a dozen road deaths or enquire about the outcome of investigations. Road crashes are not a priority for all agencies,” said a former Delhi Police officer.
T Krishna Prasad, a former IPS officer, chairman of Road Safety Authority in Telangana and now a sitting MP, said while importance is given to murders, road crashes and deaths don’t get due attention.
The lawmaker, who plans to move a private member bill on road safety, said the number of people killed in road crashes in a year is much more than any natural disaster India has seen.