Health Ministry: Road accidents account for over 43% of unintentional injury deaths in India | News from India

NEW DELHI: More than 43% of deaths due to unintentional injuries between 2016 and 2022, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic year, were due to Traffic accidentsaccording to a strategy document of the Ministry of Health on Monday. The other main causes were sudden deaths, drowning, falls and burns.
The report shows that in 2022, the share of road accidents in which people lost their lives accounted for 45.1% of all Deaths caused by unintentional injuries, indicating the urgent need for immediate action to halt this upward trend. Unintentional injuries include traffic accidents, drowning, falls, burns, poisoning, mechanical injuries and sports injuries.
The National Strategy for the Prevention of Unintentional Injuries report released at the World Security Conference highlighted that the number of deaths due to such injuries has increased from 420,000 in 2016 to 430,000 in 2022. This is almost two and a half times more deaths than from intentional injuries such as murder, suicide, violence and abuse of women and children. The strategy document used data from the National Crime Records Bureau to identify the trends.
According to the strategy paper, almost 75% of the victims were in the 18-60 age group, which is the most productive period.
Regarding the increasing number of road deaths in India, the document states: “Despite all efforts to improve road safety, India continues to struggle with a high number of road deaths. The fatality rate remains constant at around 86% for men and 14% for women.”
The report highlighted traffic violations such as speeding and drink-driving and called for “tougher enforcement and public awareness campaigns.”
The document also mentions that the number of people killed by drowning has increased from 29,721 in 2016 to 38,503 in 2022 and the majority of those who died were between 18 and 45 years old. In almost 73% of the deaths caused by drowning, falls into water bodies were the cause of death. The strategy paper recommends the installation of physical barriers controlling access to water and the installation of signage at all water bodies as a safety precaution.