India accounts for 11% of global death in road accidents

New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI):
With just 1 per cent of the world’s vehicles, India accounts for 11 per cent of the global death in road accidents, the highest in the world, according to a report by the World Bank. The country accounts for about 4.5 lakh road crashes per annum, in which 1.5 lakh people die.
“India tops the world in road crash deaths and injuries. It has 1 per cent of the world’s vehicles but accounts for 11 per cent of all road crash deaths, witnessing 53 road crashes every hour; killing 1 person every 4 minutes,” the report said. In the last decade, 13 lakh people died and another 50 lakh got injured on Indian roads, it said. “Considering the under reporting phenomenon and using the crash ratios for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways crash numbers”, the report estimates the crash costs at Rs 5.96 lakh crore or 3.14 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). The 2019 World Bank report, titled ‘Guide for Road Safety Opportunities and Challenges: Low- and Middle-Income Countries Country Profiles’, puts the road crash and serious injury cost estimate at 7.5 per cent of India’s GDP or Rs 12.9 lakh crore for 2016. It is more than twice the figure cited by the government at 3 per cent of GDP or Rs 4.3 lakh crore, it added.