Road Accidents in Kerala

Traffic accidents are a major cause of death and injuries world wide, but while they are declining
in many parts of the developed world, fatalities are still on the rise in many developing countries
including India. In our state more than half of the road accident victims are in the age group of
20 to 55, the key wage earning and child raising age group. The loss of the main bread winner
and head of household due to death or disability can be catastrophic, leading to lower living
standards and poverty.

The main causes of the increasing death rates in the Road

Accidents are:
• Not knowing or not adopting correct driving habits.
• Increasing number of New generation vehicles especially Two wheelers.
• Aggressive driving behavior of Heavy vehicle drivers especially Private Buses & Tipper
Lorries.
• Drivers sleeping while driving especially of Heavy vehicles & light motor vehicles after
midnight due to fatigue and other reasons.
• Over speeding.
• Bad condition of Roads and absence of different lanes.
• Driver /Rider's ignorance of Road conditions, Road signs and the Environmental factors.
• Driver /Rider's ignorance or violation of Traffic Rules.
• Drunken Driving/Driving without seat belt.
• Driving without Helmet.

All road users should remember that road is to be shared amongst all. Requirements of different
road users may differ according to circumstances and observance of traffic rules and
consideration for the fellow users can reduce congestions, traffic jams and accidents. All road
users must ensure that they

• Obey traffic rules at all times

• Obey all traffic signals and road sings
• Give preference to emergency vehicles and other fast moving vehicles wherever
conditions allow.
• Mandatory use signals who turning, stopping, over taking slowing down and parking
• Park only in designated areas.
• Give due consideration to pedestrians at all times
• Keep within permitted speed limits at all times.
In today’s fast world, everything has become very fast and speed has become the
other name for life. This theory is applicable for all the different aspects of life. And
so it even includes fast driving and riding as well. To add to this the auto
manufacturers are coming up with faster cars and bikes everyday. This has lead to
an increase in the number of accidents every year and it seems to increase year
after year. Although different governmental and non governmental organizations do
carry out workshops and other training programs to make people aware of careless
driving, yet this whole process has not been very successful till date

Sourced From:
Department of Road Transport and Highways.
Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.
Government of India.

Given below in the following table are Auto Accident Statistics from the year 1994 to 2004:

YEAR ROAD ACCIDENTS PERSONS KILLED PERSONS

(IN THOUSANDS) (IN THOUSANDS) INJURED
(IN
THOUSANDS)
2004 429.8 92.5 464.6
(Provisional)
2003 406.7 86.0 435.1
2002 407.5 84.7 408.7
2001 405.6 80.9 405.2
2000 391.4 78.9 399.3
1999 386.4 82.0 375.0
1998 385.0 79.9 390.7
1997 373.7 77.0 378.4
1996 371.2 74.6 369.5
1995 348.9 70.6 323.2
1994 320.4 64.0 311.5
Table No. 8 ROAD ACCIDENT STATISTICS OF INDIA : 1970-2004

TOTAL NO.
TOTAL NO. OF REGD.
NO. OF PERSONS
OF ROAD MOTOR
TOTAL NO. OF PERSONS NO. OF ACCIDENTS PER KILLED PER TEN
SL. NO. YEAR ACCIDENTS VEHICLES
KILLED ( IN NUMBERS ) TEN THOUSAND VEHICLES THOUSAND
(IN ( IN
VEHICLES
NUMBERS ) THOUSANDS
)

1 2 3 4 7 10 13
1 1970 114100 14500 1401 814.42 103.50
2 1980 153200 24000 4521 338.86 53.09
3 1990 282600 54100 19152 147.56 28.25
4 1991 295131 56278 21374 138.08 26.33
5 1992 275541 60113 23507 117.22 25.57
6 1993 284646 60380 25505 111.60 23.67
7 1994 325864 64463 27660 117.81 23.31
8 1995 351999 70781 30295 116.19 23.36
9 1996 371204 74665 33786 109.87 22.10
10 1997 373671 76977 37332 100.09 20.62
11 1998 385018 79919 41368 93.07 19.32
12 1999 386456 81966 44875 86.12 18.27
13 2000 391449 78911 48857 80.12 16.15
14 2001 405637 80888 54991 73.76 14.71
15 2002 407497 84674 58924 69.16 14.37
16 2003 406726 85998 67007 60.70 12.83
17 2004 429910 92618 72718 59.12 12.74