Road crashes account for over 43% of unintentional injury deaths in India: Health Ministry

New Delhi: More than 43 per cent of deaths due to unintentional injuries between 2016 and 2022, except for the COVID-19 pandemic year, were due to road crashes, as per a strategy document released by the health ministry on Monday. The other major causes were sudden deaths, drowning, falls and burning.

The report shows that in 2022 the share of road traffic injuries claiming lives touched 45.1 per cent of all fatalities caused due to unintentional injuries, indicating a dire need to take immediate measures to check this upward trend. Unintentional injuries include road traffic crashes, drowning, falls, burns, poisoning, mechanical and sports injuries.

The report titled ‘National Strategy for Prevention of Unintentional Injury’, released at the World Safety Conference, highlighted how the number of lives lost due to such injuries have increased from 4.2 lakh in 2016 to 4.3 lakh in 2022. This is nearly two-and-a-half times more than the deaths attributed to intentional injuries such as homicide, suicidality, violence and abuse of women and children. The strategy document used the National Crime Records Bureau data to determine the trends.

As per the strategy paper, nearly 75 per cent of the victims were in the age group of 18-60, which is the most productive period.

On the increasing number of road deaths in India, the document said, “Despite efforts to improve road safety, India continues to grapple with a high number of fatalities due to road traffic injuries. The mortality ratio remains constant at approximately 86 per cent for males and 14 per cent for females.”

Highlighting violations of traffic rules such as speeding and drunk driving, the report called for “stricter enforcement and public awareness campaigns”.

The document also mentioned that the number of people killed in drowning increased from 29,721 in 2016 to 38,503 in 2022 and majority of the deceased were from the age group of 18-45 years. In nearly 73 per cent of drowning related fatalities, accidental falls into water bodies caused the deaths. The strategy paper has recommended the need to install physical barriers that control access to water and ensure putting signage at all water bodies as safety precautions.