During the 2018-2022 period, a total of 1,86,375 road accidents have been reported in Kerala, claiming 19,468 lives and causing injuries to 2,11,534 people.
One out of 10 road accidents are fatal, resulting in death of one or more persons. The worst affected age group in road accidents is 18-45 years, accounting for about 60.5% of total accident deaths, said a report issued by the Department of Economics and Statistics.
The number of road accidents stood at 40,181 during 2018. The number went up to 41,111 in 2019, came down to 27,877 in 2020, then again climbed to 33,296 in 2021 and to 43,910 in 2022, said the report. The number of deaths in road accidents in the 2018 -2022 period stood at 4,303, 4,440, 2,979, 3,429 and 4,317 respectively.
Fall during COVID year
The report said that the State saw an unprecdented fall in road accidents and fatalities during 2020. This is mainly due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown imposed by the government. Around 33% decrease in total accident cases and fatalities was marked in 2020 as compared to 2019.
The report also pointed out that there was a 32% increase in accident cases and 26% increase in fatalities on roads during 2022 as compared to the previous year largely because of the increase in vehicular density, traffic violations and careless driving.
