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Nearly 5 lakh road accidents and 1.5 lakh deaths were recorded in 2023 — the highest in 19 years.
Fatalities have risen by over 80% since 2005, even as accidents increased only 10%.
Over-speeding remains the leading cause of death on India’s roads, followed by drunken and wrong-side driving.
Experts blame poor road design and weak enforcement as highways expand faster than safety measures.
Road crashes accounted for 2.9% of all deaths in India between 2021 and 2023 — more than TB or malaria.
The horrific road accident at Harmada in Jaipur district on November 3, 2025, in which a dumper truck ploughed into 17 vehicles and killed 13 people, has once again raised questions about India’s driving behaviour and traffic culture.
Data from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways paints a grim picture. In 2023 alone, nearly 500,000 accidents were reported, resulting in over 150,000 deaths — the highest in 19 years.
Between 2005 and 2023, road accidents in India rose by 10 per cent, but “number of persons killed” or fatalities surged by over 80 per cent, showing how crashes are becoming increasingly lethal. Over-speeding continues to be the single biggest cause of road deaths.
In 2022, more than 110,000 accidents occurred on national highways due to overspeeding, with close to 50,000 fatalities — the largest share among all causes. Ministry data shows that since record-keeping began, over-speeding has remained a consistent and deadly factor. Back in 2009, it was responsible for 45 per cent of all road accidents.
The lack of basic driving sensibilities compounds the problem. In 2023, more than 3,000 deaths were linked to drunken driving, and nearly 10,000 deaths occurred because drivers were travelling on the wrong side of the road. Police confirmed that in the recent Jaipur accident, the truck driver was under the influence of alcohol.
Why, then, do Indians over-speed? Part of the problem may lie in how roads are used — with pedestrians, two-wheelers and heavy vehicles competing for the same space. This happens despite India having the second-largest road network in the world, spanning over six million kilometres.
But according to some experts, the infrastructure often fails to accommodate such diversity safely. While the country has rapidly expanded its highway network, safety engineering has lagged behind; poor road design, inadequate signage, substandard construction and lax enforcement continue to make Indian roads perilous, found a report by British news website BBC.
Overall, road accidents accounted for 2.9 per cent of all deaths between 2021 and 2023, according to the Sample Registration System of the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. This is a higher share than diseases such as tuberculosis, diarrhoeal infections and malaria.
The Jaipur accident on November 3 involved a speeding dumper truck that mowed down everything in its path, crashing into cars, motorbikes, and pedestrians over a 300-metre stretch on Loha Mandi road. Besides the fatalities, at least 10 others were left injured.
Following the tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on social media: “Pained by the loss of lives due to a mishap in Jaipur, Rajasthan. My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover soon.”