The most dangerous time to be on Indian roads, revealed!

The Indian government has just put out accident statistics for 2016, and the figures paint an alarming picture of road safety in India. The government has also released a graph that shows road accidents against the time at which they occurred. Nearly 35 % of all accidents have occurred between 3 and 9 PM, making this 6 hour corridor the most dangerous time to be on Indian roads.

What explains?

Between 3 to 9 PM everyday, most of India is on the move. Visibility dips after 6 PM, and it’s also the evening rush hour, a time when people are rushing back home. Perhaps, this is the reason why most of the accidents happen in this stretch of time. Notably, ‘driver error’ is the major cause of road accidents, according to the report released by the government.

Here are 5 major reasons for road accidents, as mentioned in the report,

1. Speeding (called Overspeeding in India) caused 66 % of the accidents that happened in 2016, causing the deaths of 73,896 people (61 %) in India last year. 121,126 people lost their lives in road accidents last year.
2. Overtaking caused 7.3 % of all accidents that happened in India last year, making for 7.8 % of accident deaths.
3. Driving/riding on the wrong side caused 4.4% accidents and 4.7% deaths.
4. Driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs resulted in 14,894 road accidents and 6,131 deaths in 2016.
5. Using mobile phones while driving/riding caused 4,976 accidents and killed 2,138 people.

Some chilling statistics

Over the last decade, between 2005 and 2016, 1,550,098 (1.55 million) people have died in accidents on Indian roads. In 2016 alone, 55 accidents were reported every hour, making for 1,317 accidents per day. This means that there’s an accident happening somewhere in India every minute, and often with fatal consequences for the people involved. 17 people die on Indian roads each hour, or 1 person dies every 3 minutes due to an accident. Following traffic rules and staying extra cautious is essential to survive Indian roads.

Via HindustanTimes