Like every year, the National Road Safety Week has been celebrated this year from 11th to 17th January, but cases of road accidents do not seem to be dwindling. In the largest state of the country, Rajasthan, 40% of the road accidents take place in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Alwar, Ajmer, and Udaipur alone. Between 2017 and 2021, there took place 1 lakh road accidents in the state, out of which 40 thousand occurred in these districts.
As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India, out of the 17 lakh accidents which took place across the country between 2018 and 2021, 85 thousand took place in Rajasthan. According to these numbers, Rajasthan stands ninth as far as road accidents are concerned and fourth as far as related deaths are concerned in the country. Out of all the deaths taking place in the country due to road accidents, 6.8% deaths occur in Rajasthan.
Between 2011 and 2021, 2.48 road accidents took place in Rajasthan, which caused the death of 1.10 lakh people. 34.5% of the accidents are fatal, while in 30.6% of the cases, serious injuries are reported. Minor injuries take place in 29% of the accidents and 20.7% of the accidents occur between 6 PM to 9 PM. 73% of the deaths occur due to not wearing seat belts in the car, and 52% deaths occur due to not wearing a helmet while riding two-wheelers. A whopping 71.7% of the accidents occur due to over-speeding, and among those who lose their lives, 25.7% are aged between 25 and 35 years.
In Rajasthan, 17% of the accidents take place in its capital Jaipur alone. Between 2018 and 2021, 25, 797 deaths in the state occurred on the national highways, in which 14, 893 lives were lost, which is 6.8% of the country.
