13 out of every 100 killed in road crashes in 2021 were from India: WHO report

India accounts for 13% of global road crash deaths in 2021, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The number of road fatalities in India has increased from 1.34 lakh in 2010 to 1.54 lakh in 2021. In the entire South-East Asia Region, India has the highest number of road deaths, making up 46% of the total fatalities. The report emphasizes the need for urgent action to reduce these numbers and meet the global target of halving road crash deaths by 2030. The report suggests improving road safety measures such as child restraints, drunk driving legislation, and post-crash response.

Dipak K Dash ,
TNN

Updated On Dec 14, 2023 at 07:54 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Thirteen out of every 100 killed in road crashes across the world in 2021 were from India, according to the latest global report on road safety released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday. India is one of the 65 countries where road deaths have increased, with the numbers of fatalities going up from 1.34 lakh in 2010 to 1.54 lakh in 2021. Last year, the highest ever at 1.68 lakh lost their lives on roads.

Going by the Global Status Report on Road Safety, which compared the fatalities of 2010 and 2021, India had almost 46% of the 3.3 lakh such persons killed in the entire South-East Asia Region. In absolute numbers, India remains at the top among 174 countries in road deaths since the WHO started bringing out the global report.

Experts said until India achieves significant reduction in road fatalities, which has increased from 11% of all deaths on the roads in 2010 to 13% in 2021, the global target to halve such fatalities by 2030 can't be met. "When global road crash deaths have fallen, unfortunately it is still rising in India. We need a robust framework and need to take urgent action at all levels to reduce these numbers and with the same intention as we did to deal with Covid-19 pandemic. Deaths are deaths," said Prerna Singh Arora, a member of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety. Globally, road deaths have fallen by 5% between 2010 and 2021.

As per the report while the Indian government had provided the number of people killed in 2021 for preparation of the report, the WHO has estimated the fatalities around 2.16 lakh considering the probability of many victims succumbing to road crash injuries months after meeting with the accidents.

It has also highlighted how India can step up enforcement of use of child restraints in cars, tighten the legislation on drunk driving and improve post-crash response to reduce the fatalities. The report has taken note of how the test to check alcohol level in blood is not done in all fatal crashes.