Road Accidents In India: Road accidents kill thousands of Indians every year — India, in fact, tops the world charts in this grim statistic. According to Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, India saw 4.80 lakh road accidents in 2023, resulting in 1.72 lakh deaths — a 4.2% rise in accidents and a 2.6% rise in deaths compared to 2022. 

In 2023, a WHO report noted that road traffic deaths worldwide fell by 5% to 1.19 million annually between 2010 and 2021. However, in India, the number increased between 2018 and 2022, from 1,57,593 to 1,68,491, with a brief drop in the interim during the pandemic years (2020-2021).

India’s burgeoning vehicular traffic, lack of pedestrian spaces and lax implementation of traffic laws — coupled with poor knowledge of these rules among the public — are believed to be the main factors behind this malaise.

As part of a month-long campaign, ABP Live will release a daily road-accident tracker that will offer a rundown on some of the most grievous incidents of the day, with the information on their causes, if available. It’s an effort to present the overall toll of India’s deadly roads in one place — to drive home the grim reality of the country’s unsafe roads.

What follows is a list of fatal accidents that took place this weekend alone (January 18-19). This is not an exhaustive list of road accidents that occurred in this time period — just a compilation of major incidents reported in the media.

1. In Delhi, a 23-year-old food delivery executive died after his motorcycle was allegedly struck by an unidentified vehicle on the Ashram flyover in southeast Delhi, police said on Sunday. Another man suffered severe injuries in the accident. A police team inspected the spot and found skid marks on the divider, and bloodstain on an electricity pole and the road, PTI quoted a police officer as saying. Initial investigations suggest that the motorcycle lost control, possibly due to speeding, the officer said. Further investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the accident. 
2. In Madhya Pradesh’s Panna, 3 people, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed and two injured on Sunday after their car collided with an unidentified vehicle due to low visibility induced by fog, a police official said, according to PTI. The accident took place between 4am and 5am, Superintendent of Police Sai Krishna S. Thota said. 
3. At Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker’s grandmother and maternal uncle died in a road accident on Sunday. The accident occurred on Mahendragarh bypass road when a car hit their scooty, police officials said, PTI reported. The car driver fled the spot, and efforts are underway to nab them.
4. A 57-year-old police sub-inspector died in Basti, Uttar Pradesh, and a head constable was injured when the car they were travelling in rammed into a stationary truck. The head constable was driving the car. 
5. In Hyderabad, Telangana, on Saturday, 2 persons were killed and 1 injured when their two-wheeler skidded, Telangana Today reported.
6. In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, a man and his 4-year-old daughter were killed, and over 15 others injured, on Saturday when the private bus they were travelling in rammed into a lorry parked on the wrong side of the road in Vizianagaram district.
7. Four people on their way to a wedding function were killed and as many injured when their car overturned in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district on Saturday night, police said on Sunday. PTI reported that the accident occurred when an animal suddenly came in front of the vehicle.
8. A 40-year-old woman died in Telangana’s Jagtial town on Sunday, when she was hit by a Regional Transport Corporation (RTC) bus while crossing a road, Telangana Today reported.
9. Three people — two in their 20s, one aged 30 — died when their car crashed into a tree in UP’s Maharajnagar around Saturday midnight, PTI reported.  
10. In Nagpur, Maharashtra, a software engineer was killed on Sunday when his car crashed into a truck that was taking a U-turn on the Samruddhi Expressway in Nagpur, a police official said, according to PTI.