India Road Accident Trends: 183,000 Deaths and Still Rising

Heavy traffic on Mathura Road, New Delhi
File photo: traffic on Mathura Road, New Delhi. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
Deaths risingUpdated 18 October 2026

Trend summary

  • India recorded 177,175 road deaths in 2024 (1.77 lakh), up 2.5% on 2023. That is about 485 deaths a day.
  • Provisional police figures for 2025 show 513,563 crashes and 183,382 deaths, a further rise. The official 2025 report is not out yet.
  • Two-wheeler riders were 46.2% of the dead in 2024 and pedestrians 20.6%. Over-speeding was linked to 70.3% of deaths.
  • Since February 2026 the PM RAHAT scheme pays for up to ₹1.5 lakh of hospital care in the first 7 days after a crash, and helpers who take a victim to hospital can get ₹25,000.
177,175Road deaths, 2024
183,382Road deaths, 2025 (provisional)
46.2%Deaths that were two-wheeler riders, 2024
70.3%Deaths linked to over-speeding, 2024

What the numbers show

India’s road ministry counted 487,707 road crashes in 2024. They killed 177,175 people and injured 471,441. Crashes rose 1.5% and deaths 2.5% on 2023. The death rate was 12.6 per 100,000 people. Hit-and-run crashes killed 34,030, up 9% in a year (MoRTH, Road Accidents in India 2024).

The long trend is upward. Deaths were 114,444 in 2007, 139,671 in 2014 and 158,984 in 2019. They fell to 138,383 in the 2020 lockdown year, then climbed every year after (MoRTH, Table 1.6). Police data given to Parliament put 2025 at 513,563 crashes (up 5.3%) and 183,382 deaths (Deccan Chronicle/PTI).

National Highways are about 2% of India’s road length but carried 36.6% of road deaths in 2024. Two-wheeler riders made up 46.2% of the dead and pedestrians 20.6%. People aged 18 to 45 were 66.1% of those killed (MoRTH). In 2023, 54,568 people killed were not wearing a helmet and 16,025 were not wearing a seat belt (The Week/PTI).

What is driving it

Speed is the biggest named factor: the ministry links 70.3% of 2024 deaths to over-speeding (MoRTH). Two-wheelers dominate traffic and the death toll, and many riders and pillion passengers still go without helmets. Speed limits were set by vehicle type in 2018, for example 120 km/h for cars on expressways (PIB). The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 raised fines, such as drunk driving from ₹2,000 to ₹10,000, and protected Good Samaritans from liability (PRS).

Care after a crash is the newer focus. The cashless treatment scheme was notified in May 2025 and relaunched as PM RAHAT in February 2026 (PIB). The Rah-Veer reward for bystanders rose to ₹25,000 (PIB). India has signed up to the global aim of halving road deaths by 2030; worldwide, WHO counts about 1.19 million road deaths a year (WHO). So far, India’s numbers are moving the other way.

Recent cases

  • 5 August 2026: The government told Parliament that deaths on National Highways fell 4% in 2025, to 62,122, even as total road deaths rose to 183,382 (Deccan Chronicle/PTI).
  • 11 June 2026: The road ministry’s report for 2024 showed 177,175 deaths, the highest yet; Uttar Pradesh had the most deaths and Tamil Nadu the most crashes (ThePrint/PTI).
  • 14 February 2026: The government launched PM RAHAT, giving crash victims cashless hospital care of up to ₹1.5 lakh for seven days, reached by calling 112 (PIB).

Press releases and official reports, 2023–2026

Up to five key releases a year for the last four years, newest first. Most come from Government of India ministries through the Press Information Bureau (PIB), national agencies such as NCRB, the Reserve Bank of India and the National Center for Seismology, and state governments; a few news reports and data analyses are included where they are the clearest public record of an event. Releases from 2007–2022 are in the expandable list after 2023.

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View 20 years of major Indian road safety press releases (2007–2026)20 more from 2007–2022, up to five a year, newest first

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Many years list fewer than five items, and some have none yet. Older Government of India releases are hard to find at their original addresses, and we only list items we could open and check. We are still adding to these lists. Where a page shows no date, the date comes from the release address or the publisher’s own index.

Photo list

Vehicles queued on the Leh–Manali Highway near Gulaba
File photo: a traffic jam on the Leh–Manali Highway at Gulaba, Himachal Pradesh. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
A rural two-lane road between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
File photo: a rural road between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Two-wheeler riders were 46.2% of road deaths in 2024. Photo: McKay Savage via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Related on ROR Labs

How this page is built. Figures come from the official statistical releases linked above; where agencies publish provisional numbers we say so, because they are revised. Many Indian statistics are compiled state by state and published a year or two late (NCRB’s accident report for 2024 came out in 2026), so we say which year each figure covers. Large numbers are written in international form, with lakh (100,000) and crore (10 million) in brackets where Indian sources use them. Photos are public-domain or Creative Commons images credited in each caption; file photos are illustrative and are not from the events described unless the caption says so. This page tracks trends and is not personal safety, medical, legal or financial advice.