Assam: State tops Northeast in grim road accident toll

Guwahati: Assam has emerged as the epicenter of road accidents in the Northeast, registering 36,800 cases between 2019 and 2023, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ latest report.

The state’s grim record highlights a growing safety crisis, with fatalities rising 10.1% between 2022 and 2023.

In 2023 alone, Assam reported 7,421 road accidents an increase over the previous year’s 7,023 and 3,296 deaths, placing it among the top contributors to the region’s road toll.

Also Read: Assam CM: Hindu youths involved in smuggling Bangladeshis

The state had earlier logged 3,208 fatalities in 2019, 2,629 in 2020, and 3,036 in 2021, underscoring a stubbornly high fatality burden.

Tripura, with 577 accidents, ranked a distant second in the Northeast, followed by Manipur (398). While most northeastern states reported a decline in accidents in 2023 compared with 2022, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura bucked the trend with an uptick.

The report also flagged Mizoram as India’s deadliest state in terms of accident severity a staggering 90.6 deaths per 100 accidents, more than double the national average of 36. Bihar (80.6) and Jharkhand (78.5) followed.

Meghalaya (75.3), Arunachal Pradesh (50.5), Tripura (45.2), and Assam (44.4) also figured high on the severity index.

In terms of fatality rate deaths per lakh population Sikkim (10.53) topped the country, followed by Bihar (8.96), with Assam at 7.56, ranking sixth nationally.

Nationally, India reported a staggering 4,80,583 road accidents in 2023, claiming 1,72,890 lives. Of these, 31.2% occurred on National Highways, 22% on State Highways, and nearly half on other roads. Overspeeding was identified as the leading cause, responsible for 68.1% of all deaths, followed by wrong-side driving (5.5%).

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari stressed the urgency of a “multifaceted approach” to road safety, anchored in the 4Es Education, Engineering, Enforcement, and Emergency Care.

He pointed to reforms including road safety audits, international collaborations, e-DAR (Electronic Detailed Accident Report), and automated vehicle inspection centres as critical steps to curb fatalities.

The report makes clear that without urgent interventions, the country’s roads will continue to extract a deadly toll, with Assam and other northeastern states increasingly caught in the crosshairs of India’s worsening road safety crisis.