A horrific road accident occurred near Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Friday. A mini bus and a container truck collided head-on in Rangajan area of Golaghat district. 26 people died in the accident, while 20 people were injured. Many college students were also among the dead. The accident happened on National Highway-715. According to initial information, the mini bus was going from Golaghat towards Nagaon. At the same time, the container truck was going towards Upper Assam. The collision was so strong that the mini bus was badly damaged. The injured have been admitted to nearby hospitals. The causes of the accident are being investigated.
This accident once again raises questions about road safety in the country. Millions of road accidents occur every year in India. A large number of people lose their lives in these. According to data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), there were 5,13,563 road accidents across the country in the year 2025. Of these, 1,83,382 people died. That means on an average about 502 people lost their lives in road accidents every day. In 2024, this average was about 485 deaths per day.
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How many road accidents occurred in 2024 and 2025?
According to the annual report of MoRTH and government data presented in Parliament, the number of road accidents and deaths in the country has continuously increased. A total of 4,87,707 road accidents were recorded in the year 2024. Of these, 1,77,175 people died. At the same time, the number of accidents increased to 5,13,563 in 2025. This year 1,83,382 people lost their lives.
| Year | total road accidents | total deaths | average daily deaths |
| 2024 | 4,87,707 | 1,77,175 | around 485 |
| 2025 | 5,13,563 | 1,83,382 | about 502 |
| 2026 (by July 27) | 2,96,447 | 1,01,139 | about 486 |
An average of 36 people die in every 100 accidents.
It is not just the number of road accidents that is a matter of concern. The number of deaths in accidents is also very high. According to MoRTH's 2024 report, an average of 36.3 people died in every 100 road accidents in the country. In 2023 this figure was 36. That means an increase in the seriousness of accidents was also recorded.
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According to the report, there were a total of 4,87,707 road accidents in 2024. Of these, 1,64,378 were such accidents in which at least one person died. This year 4,71,441 people were also injured.
What are the reasons behind major road accidents?
The reasons for road accidents can be different. Many times drivers lose control of their vehicles due to high speed. Driving in the wrong direction on the highway and head-on collision also become the cause of major accidents. Apart from this, seating more people in buses or other passenger vehicles than the prescribed capacity also increases the risk.
Many people also lose their lives when passenger buses fall into ditches in hilly and rural areas. At the same time, incidents like collision of speeding vehicles and overturning of overloaded trucks also keep coming to light on the highway. However, it would not be correct to link all these incidents to a single reason. The causes of each accident are investigated separately.
Digital records of accidents are being maintained on e-DAR portal.
The government is using Electronic Detailed Accident Report i.e. e-DAR portal to collect information related to road accidents. Through this, digital records of road accidents are maintained. In this, information related to the place of the accident, time, vehicles involved, injured and deceased are recorded.
This data is used to understand the causes of road accidents and identify risk areas. The government plans to take steps related to road safety on the basis of such records.
Note: In this news, MoRTH's annual report for 2024 and MoRTH data given in Parliament for 2025 and 2026 have been used. The figures for 2024 shown in the table are taken from MoRTH's Road Accidents in India 2024 report. The figures for 2025 and 2026 are based on information given by the government in Parliament and data from the e-DAR portal. The data for 2026 is only till July 27. Therefore this should not be considered as the figure for the entire year.