Road accident fatalities soar: Minors, working-age adults at high risk

02 Nov 2023 CW Team

Last year, the number of minors killed in road accidents surged by 28%, reaching 9,528 fatalities, constituting 6% of the total road-related deaths in 2022, up from 7,764 in 2021. Shockingly, individuals aged between 18 and 45 years continued to bear the brunt of these accidents, accounting for over two-thirds of the grim total of 1.68 lakh fatalities.

According to a report from the transport ministry released, the data gathered from all states and Union Territories revealed that the age group of 18-60 years, the most economically active segment, suffered the highest toll, with approximately 1.12 lakh deaths. The report emphasised that the "working age group of 18-60 years comprised 83.4% of the overall fatalities resulting from road accidents."

Road safety activist and former president of the Geneva-based International Road Federation, K K Kapila, stressed the urgency of raising awareness among minors about the risks on the road. He cited the World Health Organisation's classification of road crashes as the leading cause of death among youths and children. Despite existing safety regulations, there is a pressing need to enhance awareness among young individuals about the perils of road accidents.

The government, as stated in the report, highlighted the staggering socio-economic cost of road crashes, amounting to approximately 3% of India's GDP. Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari termed this loss as "one of the biggest national losses" and urged citizens to contribute towards making roads safer.

Infrastructure Transport

12 Mar 2026

Kavach 4.0 Commissioned on Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah

"Kavach version four has been commissioned on 1,452 route km, covering the high density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors. The rollout included laying 8,570 km of optical fibre, installation of 1,100 telecom towers, deployment of trackside equipment over 6,776 RKm and establishment of 767 station data centres. Trackside implementation has been taken up on 24,427 RKm covering Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and High Density Network sections. The programme aims to strengthen signalling and train protection on key routes.Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protecti..

Railways Advance Kalyan–Murbad Line And Mumbai Capacity Expansion

"Indian Railways is advancing multiple rail infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, including the sanctioned Kalyan–Murbad new line and sizable investments under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project and the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project. The Kalyan–Murbad 28 km new line has been sanctioned at Rs 8.36 billion (bn) on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis with the Government of Maharashtra and has been declared a Special Railway Project for land acquisition; proposals covering 214 hectares are at various stages of acquisition. Budgetary outlay for projects falling fully or partly in Maharash..

Parliamentary Panel Flags Funding Gaps in Heavy Industries

"The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry (Rajya Sabha) presented its 332nd report on the Demands for Grants 2026-27 of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI). Figures converted from crore and lakh are expressed in million (mn). The Budget Estimates 2026-27 for the Ministry stand at Rs 79,399 mn against a projected requirement of Rs 94,843.2 mn, a shortfall of about 16 per cent, with revenue at Rs 79,370.8 mn and capital compressed to Rs 28.2 mn from Rs 5,020 mn.The committee flagged recurring BE-to-RE compression and declining revised estimate utilisation, and calle..