Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 26
Despite the lockdown associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, road accidents in Nagaland increased significantly in 2020, according to official data recently released by the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).
In 2020, a total of 500 road accidents were officially recorded in Nagaland, which is an increase by 39.7% over 2019, informed the ‘Road Accidents in India – 2020’ published by the MoRTH’s Transport Research Wing (TRW).
In absolute terms, road accidents increased by 124 from 358 in 2019 to 500 in 2020, the report said. Accordingly, a total of 53 fatalities were reported in the road accidents in 2020 against 26 in 2019, indicating an increase by 103% over previous year.
All States/Union Territories other than Nagaland, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep, recorded less number of fatalities in 2020 compared to same period in 2019, the report said.
Meanwhile, a total of 286 persons were injured in the 500 road accidents in the State. Out of this 92 were designated as “Grievously Injured Persons” while 194 were slotted under “Minor Injured Persons.”
Meanwhile, out of 500 road accidents, a total of 309 occurred on the National Highways in Nagaland, the report stated.
In terms of traffic violations, over-speeding was one of the major causes, responsible for 156 out of 500 accidents in 2020. Next was “Drunken Driving/ Consumption of alcohol & drug” at 107 cases, followed by “Driving on Wrong side” at 63. A total of 174 accidents were designated as “Others.”
Year-wise data provided by the report suggested that the 2020 figure reversed a declining trend observed since 2018, after a record 521 accidents in 2017. The figure decreased to 430 in 2018 and 358 in 2019.
Across India, the total number of accident declined from 4,49,002 in 2019 to 3,66,138 in 2020, registering an 18.5% fall in 2020 on an average over same period last year, the report stated.
Among the North Eastern States, Assam recorded the highest number of accidents during 2016 to 2020; Nagaland with 500 accidents was in the second place followed by Tripura (466) and Manipur (432), the report added.
