A total of 1.98 lakh people, an average of 542 people a day, died in traffic accidents in the country in 2023, shows the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.While the number of accidents have increased almost 4% from 4.72 lakh in 2022 to 4.91 lakh in 2023, fatalities have marginally increased by 1.81%.The traffic accidents comprise 4.64 lakh road accidents, 24,678 railway accidents and 2,483 railway crossing accidents. Around 75% of the railway accidents are of people falling from trains or being hit by trains.The data shows that in 2023, 1.74 lakh people died in road accidents, 21,803 people died in railway accidents and 2,242 fatalities were recorded in railway crossing accidents.The report shows that while road accidents have generally caused more injuries than deaths, the story is different for Jharkhand, Punjab, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar islands.In the Andaman & Nicobar islands, 25 road accidents caused 27 deaths and 11 injuries. In Jharkhand, 5,316 road accidents caused 4,173 deaths and 3,586 injuries. In Punjab, 6,276 road accidents caused 4,906 deaths and 3,305 injuries. In Bihar, 11,014 road accidents caused 8,873 deaths and 6,539 injuries. And in Uttar Pradesh, 37,764 road accidents caused 23,947 deaths and 23,843 injuries.The data is part of ‘NCRB’s Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’ report. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) publishes a separate ‘Road Accidents in India’ report. The NCRB report mirrors the MoRTH data of 1.73 lakh deaths during the same period.Story continues below this adNCRB report shows that two-wheelers account for the highest road accident deaths. In 2023, 79,533 people died while riding on two-wheelers, which is 45.8% of road accident deaths, followed by pedestrians (27,586 deaths or 15.9%) and SUV/car/jeep (24,776 deaths or 14.3%).The timing of the road accidents reveals that almost 21% of cases were reported during 6 pm to 9 pm. The time period from 3 pm-6 pm and 12 pm-3 pm accounted for 17.3% and 15% cases respectively.The highest numbers of deaths in road accidents were reported on the National Highways, which accounted for 34.6% deaths, followed by state highways (23.4%, or 40,611 deaths). A total of 73,088 persons died due to road accidents on the other roads during 2023.A closer analysis reveals that 45 deaths were reported in every 100 km of National Highways, 23 deaths in every 100 km of state highways and one death in every 100-km of other roads.Most road accidents were due to over speeding accounting for 61.4% of total accidents, which caused 101,841 deaths and injuries to 281,026 persons. Dangerous/careless driving or overtaking caused 41,035 deaths and injuries to 1,03,306 persons during 2023. According to the report, 2.1% of such accidents were due to poor weather conditions.Story continues below this adIn case of Railway Accidents, which has increased by 6.7% in 2023 from 2022, a maximum of 22.5% cases were reported in Maharashtra, followed by 13% cases in Uttar Pradesh. These two states have also reported highest fatalities in railway accidents, accounting for 15.8% and 14.4% respectively. A total of 15,878 persons died due to either fall from trains or collision of trains with people at tracks.