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Road accidents claimed 1,50,785 lives last year, according to data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
In an annual publication, the ministry said a total of 4,80,652 road accidents were reported in 2016.
The age group of 18-35 years accounted for 46.3 per cent (69,851 persons) of fatalities. Potholes were to blame for 6,424 accidents and 2,324 deaths. Another 9,583 accidents and 3,396 fatalities were attributed to speed breakers.
The accidents led to 1,50,785 deaths and 4, 94,624 injuries in the country. This works out to an average daily count of 1,317 accidents and 413 deaths, or an hourly count of 55 accidents and 17 deaths every hour.
Compared to 2015, there was a decline of 4.1 per cent in the number of accidents, but the total number of fatal accidents rose 3.3 per cent to 1,36,071.
The National Highways constitute about 2 per cent of the total road network, but they accounted for 29.6 per cent of total road accidents and 34.5 per cent of deaths.
In 2016, the share of road accidents on National Highways rose to 29.6 per cent, against 28.4 per cent the previous year.
State Highways accounted for 25.3 per cent of total accidents and 27.9 per cent of deaths.
About 37 per cent of total accidents took place on traffic junctions during 2016. Within traffic junctions, uncontrolled ones contributed to a major portion of road accidents (72.9 per cent) underscoring the importance of traffic control mechanism at junctions, the ministry statement added.
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