Road Accident Deaths In India Touch 1.77 Lakh In 2024: Centre Tells Parliament

India’s road safety crisis deepened in 2024, with the number of people killed in road crashes rising to 1,77,177, the Union government informed Parliament. This marks a 2.5% increase from 1,72,890 deaths recorded in 2023, translating to an average of around 485 fatalities every day on Indian roads.

Road Deaths Continue Upward Trend

The data was shared by Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari while replying to a question raised by DMK MP A Raja. The figures underline the continuing challenge India faces in making its rapidly expanding road network safer for users.

Explaining the reasons behind the increase, S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division at the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), said the rise should not come as a surprise.

“The latest rise in road fatalities is not surprising because India has still not reached the saturation point that many developed countries hit in the late 1990s, where numbers plateaued and then steadily dipped. In contrast, India continues to see a boom in vehicle ownership and rapid highway construction, but the safety standards meant to accompany this growth are not being implemented fully on the ground,” he said.

Fast Roads, Slow Safety Measures

Velmurugan pointed out that while India is creating road infrastructure at record speed, safety implementation is lagging.

“We are building roads at impressive speeds of 40 km a day (national highways), but the safety features expected on paper are not consistently delivered by field-level agencies,” he added.

According to experts, this gap between construction and safety is directly contributing to the rising crash toll.

Speeding And Engineering Flaws Major Factors

Velmurugan said speeding and faulty road engineering remain the biggest causes of fatal crashes. He noted that highways passing through towns and villages often lack basic pedestrian crossings and protective barriers, turning them into accident hotspots.

“Enforcement must be ruthless and systemic. Catching speeding at a single camera point is no longer useful because drivers slow down when they see a sign. Sectional speed monitoring between toll plazas—which we now have every 40–50 km—should become standard. If a vehicle covers that stretch suspiciously fast, there should be immediate penal action. Only then will behaviour change” he said.

Push For Smarter Speed Monitoring

He instead called for wider deployment of continuous speed checks.

“Sectional speed monitoring between toll plazas which we now have every 40–50 km should become standard. If a vehicle covers that stretch suspiciously fast, there should be immediate penal action. Only then will behaviour change.”

India’s Global Road Safety Commitments

In Parliament, Gadkari also referred to the Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety, adopted at the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in February 2020. The declaration sets a global target of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030, a commitment India has signed onto.

He further cited international comparisons, saying India’s road fatality rate stands at 11.89 per lakh population, compared to 4.3 in China and 12.76 in the United States, as per World Road Statistics 2024.

Cashless Treatment For Accident Victims

In a separate written response, Gadkari said the government has started offering relief to crash survivors. As many as 5,480 road accident victims were found eligible for cashless treatment under the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund through the Cashless Treatment for Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025.

He added that 32,557 hospitals across 36 states and union territories have been empanelled under the scheme, aimed at ensuring that accident victims receive immediate medical care without financial stress.