NEW DELHI, 29 Dec: A total of 16,397 persons were killed in road accidents in 2021 due to not wearing seat belt, of which 8,438 were drivers and remaining 7,959 were passengers, according to a report by the ministry of road transport & highways (MoRTH).
The report, titled ‘Road accidents in India – 2021’, further said that a total of 46,593 persons were killed in road accidents due to not wearing helmet, of which 32,877 were drivers and 13,716 were passengers.
A total of 4,12,432 road accidents occurred in 2021, which claimed 1,53,972 lives, while 3,84,448 people were injured.
According to the report, not wearing helmet caused injuries to 93,763 persons and not wearing seat belt caused injuries to 39,231 persons during 2021.
Not using safety devices such as helmet and seat belt does not cause accidents but are critical for averting fatal and grievous injuries in the event of road accidents.
Helmet is mandatory for all motorists on two-wheelers, barring a few exemptions.
Although not wearing a seat belt by passengers sitting in the rear seats attracts a fine of Rs 1,000 under Rule 138 (3) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), most people are either unaware of this mandatory rule or just ignore it.
As per the report, Uttar Pradesh retained its top position in road accident fatalities at the national level like in 2020, accounting for 15.2 percent of the total fatalities, followed by Tamil Nadu (9.4 percent) Maharashtra (7.3 percent), and Rajasthan (6.8 percent).
The report said drunken driving, driving on the wrong side, jumping red light and use of mobile phone together accounted for about 8.2 percent of total accidents and 9.35 percent of fatalities on national highways.
The data shows that 67.5 percent of accidents occurred on straight roads, whereas accidents on curved roads, pothole roads and steep grade together accounted for only 13.9 percent of the total road accidents.
Road sections where construction work was in progress accounted for 2.2 percent of the total accidents in 2021, and about 20.9 percent of fatalities took place on various junctions in 2021, the report said.
While almost three-fourths of the accidents and fatalities took place under sunny/clear weather, the report said accidents that, under adverse weather conditions such as rainy, foggy and hail/sleet accounted for only 16.8 percent of the total road accidents during 2021.
The report is based on the data/information received from police departments of states/union territories collected on calendar year basis. (PTI)
