India has amongst the worst records for road safety of any nation in the world, a problem highlighted by data made available recently. During 2017 India saw an appalling 464,910 road crashes being reported. These crashes resulted in 470,975 injuries and 147,913 road deaths. On average India sees 1,274 road crashes/day resulting in 1,290 injuries and 405 fatalities. Tamil Nadu State has the highest number of road crashes although Uttar Pradesh has the unenviable record of having the highest number of road deaths. Speeding is the biggest single contributory factor in road crashes and road deaths in India, accounting for 72.8% of road crash-related injuries, 66.7% of road deaths and 70.4% of road crashes.
On a positive note however, India’s road crash rate does appear to be falling slightly. There were 480,652 crashes in 2016 and 501,423 crashes in 2015.
