Mumbai, the New Accident Capital of India

Bangalore: Mumbai is the new accident capital of the country. As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) the city recorded the maximum number of accidental deaths between 2007 and 2011.

It was noted that Mumbai registered 7,814 accidental deaths in 2007-11, followed by Delhi (7,576), reported Chittaranjan Tembhekar for TNN. The two cities accounted for 12.5 and 12.1 percent of the total cases respectively. Bangalore took the third position with 7.2 percent cases; Chennai was at the fourth position at 6.8 percent and Pune was on the fifth position (5.9 percent).

Accidental deaths include all types of unnatural deaths like those caused by industrial mishaps, building collapse, drowning, explosions, etc. But it was noted that road accidents accounted for the most number of such fatalities. Mumbai took the fourth position in road accident cases in the time frame of four years.

Chennai topped the list (9,845) for road accidents, followed by Delhi (7,476), Bangalore (6,031) and Mumbai (3,525). Among states Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra took the top two positions in case of fatal road mishaps. It was also noted that more than 35 percent accidents across the country take place on roads each year.

Trucks and lorries were seen to be involved in most accidents with 98.5 percent victims (both injured and dead) being those who were travelling in the vehicles, said the study. Jeeps and cars also were involved in a large number of mishaps. Maharashtra also recorded to have the maximum number of pedestrians at 12.6 percent and motorists at 13.3 percent falling victims to accidents.

However, Kolkata, which is the third largest city in terms of population, reported the least number of accidental deaths at 1.4 percent.  Surat, Indore, Hyderabad and Nagpur took the sixth, seventh eighth and ninth position respectively for the number of accidental deaths. The study covered 53 mega cities in the country with a population of more than 10 lakh.

Also Read: India Accounts for One In 10 Road Deaths Globally