India sees 11.9% jump in road accidents in 2022; Tamil Nadu tops the list of NH mishaps

As per the report, a majority of the accidents occurred on national highways (1,51,997), and in this category, Tamil Nadu saw the highest number of accidents (18,972, 12. 5 per cent of the total accidents). The highest number of fatalities in road accidents was in Uttar Pradesh with 8,479 deaths (13.9 per cent) followed by Tamil Nadu with 5,978 fatalities.

The report noted that Tamil Nadu has maintained the top position in the number of accidents on national highways for the fifth continuous year since 2018. Further, the state has also recorded a total of 64,105 road accidents in 2022, an increase of 15.1 per cent from 2021.

Meanwhile, Chennai topped the million-plus cities that reduced the number of road accidents in 2022. While the city had recorded 5,034 road accidents in 2021, this number dropped to 3,452 in 2022. Chennai also topped the list of cities that reported a reduction in fatalities due to road accidents. From 998 in 2021, the number of fatalities dropped to 507 in 2022 – a 49 per cent reduction.

The data provided in this report is sourced from police departments of states and Union Territories collected on a calendar-year basis in standardised formats as provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) under the Asia Pacific Road Accident Data (APRAD) base project.