· Road safety · Statistics · MoRTH
Road Accidents in India 2024: The Numbers That Matter From MoRTH’s Report
Written and checked byManju Shekhar· Motor Law & Compliance
Key points
- 4,87,707 accidents, 1,77,175 deaths and 4,71,441 injuries in 2024 — about 485 deaths a day.
- Deaths rose 2.5% over 2023, faster than accidents, which rose 1.5%.
- Overspeeding accounted for 70.3% of deaths.
- Two-wheeler users were 46.2% of everyone killed; pedestrians were 20.6%.
- National highways are about 2.1% of the road network but saw 36.6% of road deaths.
The headline figures
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ annual report, Road Accidents in India 2024, is the most recent official data. It counts 4,87,707 road accidents in 2024, in which 1,77,175 people were killed and 4,71,441 injured. That is about 1,336 accidents and 485 deaths every day, and the highest death toll the report has ever recorded.
Both figures rose from 2023, when the report counted 4,80,583 accidents and 1,72,890 deaths. Accidents went up by 7,124 (1.5%) and deaths by 4,285 (2.5%). Deaths rising faster than crashes means crashes are getting deadlier. Severity — deaths per 100 accidents — was 36.3 in 2024.
What is killing people
The report attributes deaths to the traffic rule violation recorded for each accident. Speed dominates.
- 54,122 people killed were not wearing a helmet.
- 14,466 people killed were not wearing a seat belt.
- 34,030 people were killed in hit-and-run crashes — 19.2% of all road deaths.
- In 7.2% of accidents, the driver did not hold a valid licence.
| Cause | Deaths | Share of deaths |
|---|---|---|
| Overspeeding | 1,24,522 | 70.3% |
| Driving on the wrong side / lane indiscipline | 8,327 | 4.7% |
| Drunk driving or drugs | 3,204 | 1.8% |
| Using a mobile phone | 2,002 | 1.1% |
Who is dying
Two-wheeler riders and pillions made up 46.2% of everyone killed on the roads in 2024 — 81,780 people. Pedestrians were the next largest group at 20.6%, followed by car occupants at 12.4%. Together, people on two-wheelers and on foot accounted for two of every three road deaths.
Where
National highways are about 2.1% of India’s road network but recorded 64,772 deaths in 2024 — 36.6% of the national total — across 1,50,958 accidents. Deaths on national highways have risen every year since 2020.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the most road deaths of any state (24,118), followed by Tamil Nadu (18,449) and Maharashtra (15,715). Tamil Nadu recorded the most accidents (67,526). Measured against population, India’s death risk was 12.6 per lakh people.
Reading these numbers carefully
Two cautions apply. First, MoRTH revises earlier years in each new edition, so a 2020 or 2021 figure quoted from an older report may not match the 2024 report’s own back-series. Comparisons here use the 2024 report throughout. Second, “cause” means the violation police recorded for the accident. It is not a full reconstruction of every contributing factor.
As of October 2026 the 2025 edition has not been published. When it is, we will update our statistics pages from the report itself.