Wrong side and drunk driving major reasons for accidents in India, report suggests

As per data, the number of road accidents has reduced in the first year of the pandemic compared to the previous year of 2019.

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There are many causes of a road accident, and several factors come into play. But drunk driving and driving on the wrong side top the list of reasons. As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in the first year of the pandemic, there was a significant drop in the number of road accidents.

As per the reports in reply to Rajya Sabha, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, stated that 3,66,138 road accidents took place in India in 2020. Compared to it, 2019 witnessed 4,37,396 accidents.

As per the Minister, vehicles jumping red lights caused 2,721 accidents. In addition, using a cellphone while driving resulted in 6,753 collisions. Other factors contributed to a total of 62,738 accidents.

Overspeeding was responsible for more than 67 per cent of those who died in road accidents in 2019 while driving on the wrong side of the road was responsible for 6% of all accident-related deaths in 2020. Mobile phone use was responsible for 3.3 per cent of the deaths, while intoxicated driving was responsible for 3.5 per cent of the fatalities.

People caught driving under the influence of alcohol were issued 56,204 challans in 2020. In 2021, just 48,144 challans were issued for identical violations, which is a significant decrease.

Last year, Uttar Pradesh was the most successful state in terms of collecting fines for traffic offences. Penalties were collected in the amount of 447 crores by the state, followed by 326 crores by Haryana, 267 crores by Rajasthan, and 258 crores by Bihar.

In 2020-21, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) collected toll revenues worth Rs 27,744 crore. From April to December last year, the collection was Rs 24,989 crore.