Road Safety in India: Status Report 2020

This report was published in May 2020 under Transportation Research & Injury Prevention Programme by Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

Key Findings: According to official statistics 151,113 persons were killed, which corresponds to 11.6 deaths per 100,000 population.

• Of those who died, only 14% are females and the rest are males. Internationally, females always have a minority share in road deaths. However, in India, their share is among the lowest in the world. This may be because of much lower exposure of females to traffic risk. Share of women in total number of motor vehicle license holder is about 6 percent, while the rest of the license holders are men.
• Over the last decade (2009-2019) road traffic crashes have been 13th largest contributor to health burden (deaths and disabilities) in India. For the working age population (15-49 years), they are the sixth largest contributor.
• The number of cars and motorised two-wheelers (MTW) registered in 2019 was 36.5 and 221.2 million respectively. The official registration data over-represent the number of vehicles in actual operation because vehicles that go off the road due to age or other reasons are not removed from the records.