The national capital recorded the lowest number of road deaths in 2019, the lowest in nearly 15 years. Despite still being in the list of top 50 cities with million-plus population and a high number of road deaths, Delhi recorded its sharpest decline in numbers in 2019, with 227 fewer deaths, as compared to 2018.
The decline in road deaths met the goals of Delhi Road Safety Policy, which targeted to achieve a 30% reduction in road crashes and fatalities between 2018 and 2020. The policy also aims an 80% dip in the number by 2025.
According to the data released by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in 2019, Delhi reported 1,463 road deaths in 5,610 crashes. Overspeeding accounted for nearly half of these fatalities and two-third of the victims were two-wheelers riders, as the data revealed. Back in 2005, the city recorded 1,862 road deaths due to crashes.
Majority of the road death victims in Delhi are in the age group of 15-35 years. As the state police department record shows, 791 people died due to road crashes are in this age group. Also, among the total 1,463 fatalities, 1,103 people were in the age group of 18-45 years.
As the MoRTH data reveals, among all big cities, Delhi is not safe for pedestrians and cyclists, as the national capital reported maximum deaths in these categories. On the other hand, Chennai tops the list of road deaths of two-wheeler riders with 514 fatalities in 2019, followed by Delhi with 490 deaths. Among these, 178 fatalities were due to not wearing helmets.
Besides not wearing helmets, another major traffic rule violation is not wearing seatbelts that have caused 97 deaths in Delhi.
Potholes and bad road conditions have been among the major reason behind road accidents. Delhi ranked sixth in the list of big cities when it comes to road deaths due to potholes.
The city had the fifth-highest number of road deaths due to use of mobile phone while driving with 53 fatalities. The four top cities with deaths due to mobile phone use in 2019 were Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad and Agra with 172, 149, 102 and 89 deaths respectively.
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