30% fall in road accident deaths in 5 yrs
Himachal Pradesh has witnessed 30 per cent decline in road accident deaths in the past five years.
According to a report published by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), as many as 806 people lost their lives due to road accidents across the state in 2024 as compared to 1,146 fatalities in 2019.
The United Nations has set a global target to reduce deaths as well as injuries due to road accidents by 50 per cent, considering 2019 as the base year.
With total number of road accident deaths declining by 30 per cent, the state is heading towards the target set by the United Nations.
Besides Himachal Pradesh, road fatalities have declined by 16 per cent in Kerala. A total of 3,714 road accident deaths were reported in 2024 as compared to 4,440 in 2019.
The report also states that human lives lost in road accidents across the country has increased by around 20 per cent in 2024.
As many as 1,80,000 fatalities due to road accidents were reported throughout the country in 2024, while 1,51,113 lives were lost due to road accidents in 2019.
Vinod Kumar, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Traffic Tourism and Railways, said various initiatives had been taken by the police to reduce road accident deaths.
He said the TRL had lauded Himachal Pradesh Police as well as the World Bank for implementation of major road safety programmes, which include developing action plans, using iRAp methodology and strengthening enforcement.
As per records of the Himachal Pradesh Police, in 2024 (Jan 1 to Nov 30), 1,978 accidents took place in the state while in 2023, 2,255 accidents were reported.
Similarly, 2,592 accidents occurred across the state in 2022, 2,408 in 2021, 2,236 in 2020 and 2,896 accidents were reported in 2019.
