BBC News: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 168,491 people were killed on India’s roads last year, data released by the government shows.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The country accounts for just 1% of the global vehicular population<\/a>, but has the highest number<\/a> of accident-related deaths in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fatalities recorded in 2022 represent an increase of 9.4% on the previous year, a new report by India’s transport ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seven out of every 10 lives, or 70%, were lost due to speeding, it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Road accidents are common in India, often due to poor driving or badly maintained roads and vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report, which was released on Tuesday, said that the country lost 462 lives a day and 19 lives every hour to road accidents last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Road accidents also injured 443,000 people in the country and the number of accidents rose by 11.9% between 2021 and 2022. Most of these were caused by vehicles being hit from the back or hit-and-run cases, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The southern state Tamil Nadu accounted the highest number of accidents followed by the central state of Madhya Pradesh, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It added that the country did manage to buck the trend momentarily in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data shows that there was an “unprecedented decrease” in accidents and deaths, particularly during the months of March and April when the country imposed a countrywide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus, the transport ministry said. But the numbers picked up again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ministry said it has been making efforts to curb the problem such as improving the design of roads, increasing surveillance on highways and imposing “stiff penalties” for traffic violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n