The report also shows that the pedestrians continue to be the main victims of road accidents. The number of fatalities due to road accidents in Delhi has declined by 37 per cent in the last 10 years but hit-and-run cases accounted for 59 per cent of total fatal accidents in 2021, as compared to 50 per cent in 2020. The percentage share of pedestrians killed in road accidents has also increased to 29 per cent in 2021, as compared to the past years, data from a transport department report has revealed.
The transport department recently released its ‘Delhi Road Crashes Fatalities Report 2021’, highlighting the road accidents’ situation in the city. The report said that in 2021, 1,238 people were killed in road accidents as compared to 1,866 fatalities in 2012, a 37 per cent decline in 10 years.
The report also pointed out that fatal crashes and deaths have come down slightly after 2019, largely due to the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, but the cases are now gradually increasing. While there were 1,163 fatal crashes and 1,197 deaths in Delhi in 2020, the numbers rose slightly to 1,199 fatal crashes and 1,238 deaths in 2021.
Of the total fatal crashes in 2021, 719 were hit-and-run cases with 719 fatalities.
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The report also shows that the pedestrians continue to be the main victims of road accidents.
Hit-and-run cases increased from 600 to 708 in 2021 as compared to 2020, accounting for 59 per cent of the total fatal crashes. Of the total persons killed in hit-and-run cases in 2021, 379 were pedestrians and 280 were motorists, while in 2020, 293 pedestrians and 271 motorists died in hit-and-run crashes.
Further, the report reveals, a large number of people killed in the hit-and-run cases were in the 20-29 years’ age group (95), followed by the 30-39 years’ age group (82).
Heavy vehicles were responsible for 44 per cent of the crashes where the causal vehicle was known, followed by light motor vehicles and motorcyclists. “The colliding vehicle was not known in 40 per cent of fatal crashes. Males were responsible for most of the fatal crashes in Delhi. Only 1% of drivers found at fault were female. Cases with unknown gender were excluded,” the report noted.
The road crash death rate per 100,000 population was highest among people aged between 50 to 54 years, shows the data.
The high-risk corridors in Delhi identified in 2021 are slightly less than the previous year. Delhi has 20 high-risk corridors, of which five are high risk for pedestrians and 10 for motorists. Ring Road Bypass, Outer Ring Road and Ring Road are the most high-risk and reported the highest number of people killed in 2021.
Further, Netaji Subhash Marg, G T Karnal Road, Ring Road Bypass and New Rohtak Road were found to be more dangerous for pedestrians with higher pedestrian deaths being recorded here in 2021. While Netaji Subhash Marg recorded the highest number of pedestrian deaths per km, Outer Ring Road recorded 64 pedestrian deaths with 1 death per km in 2021, the report indicated.