Road Accidents: Cellphone usage rose highest in traffic rule violations that caused deaths

Citizens . (Image: Reuters)

Road accidents reported due to the use of mobile phones increased by 16 percent in 2019 over 2018, and people killed in these accidents increased by 33 percent over the same period, according to the Road Accidents In India 2019 report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in October this year.

Among the type of traffic violations that caused road mishaps, use of mobile phones recorded the maximum increase over the one-year period. Other violations such as ‘drunken driving/consumption of alcohol & drugs’  saw the second most increase (27 percent) in terms of people killed in road crashes, followed by ‘jumping red light’ or traffic signal (16 percent).

On an average, nearly 29 accidents and about 13 deaths took place every day on Indian roads due to use of mobile phones in 2019.

However, use of mobile phones accounted for only 2.3 percent (10,522) of all the (4,49,002) reported road accidents in the country and 3.3 percent (4,945) of all (1,51,113) deaths registered in these mishaps in 2019. Over-speeding accounted for the most 71 percent of all road accidents in 2019 and 67 percent of the deaths.

However, accidents and deaths caused by traffic rule violations such as over speeding, drunken driving, jumping red lights and using mobile phones registered an increase over a year “which underlines the need for stricter enforcement of the Motor Vehicle Act-2019,” the release said.

Road accident severity--measured by persons killed per 100 accidents--increased by 1.3 percentage points from 32.4 in 2018 to 33.7 in 2019, the report notes.