With road accidents in the hill state claiming 1,203 lives in 2017, Himachal Pradesh stood fourth in the country, with a percentage share of 16.8 in terms of total number of persons per lakh population killed in road accidents.

This comes as a slight respite as the state has slipped to fourth position from third position, as in 2016 it had stood at 17.9 in terms of total number of persons killed per lakh population.

Tamil Naidu continues to lead for the fourth consecutive year, this time with 23.2 deaths per lakh population as per the recently released report Road Accidents in India – 2017 by the ministry of road transport and highways transport research wing.

Haryana at 18.4 stood at second position and continues to be since last three years.

While Karnataka was third position at 16.9, after HP, other states in the top ten position that follow are Goa 16.2, Chhattisgarh 15.8, Punjab 15.2, Puducherry 13.4, Madhya Pradesh 12.9 and Sikkim 11.9. The national average stood at 11.5.

The total number of persons killed in road accidents per lakh population in HP was 16.2 in 2012, 15.2 in 2013, 17.2 in 2014, in 2015 it fell to 15.6, while in 2016 it rose to 17.9.

The previous year in 2016, Himachal Pradesh witnessed 1271 persons killed in road accidents, 1096 in 2015, 1199 in 2014 and 1054 in 2013.

The total number of accidents also witnessed a decrease which stood at 3114 accidents where as in the previous years there were 3168 accidents in 2016. There were 3,010 accidents in 2015, 3,058 in 2014, 2,981 in 2013 and 2,899 in 2012.

There was also decrease in the number of injured persons in the state as compared to the previous year. In 2017 there were 52961 injured, while in 2016 there were 5,764 injured. Whereas, in 2015 and 2014 there were 5,108 and 5,576 injured respectively.

The total number of fatal accidents was 907 which is less as compared to the previous year which saw 1000 fatal accidents.

According to the accidents classified hit and run accidents was highest 672, that killed 159 persons, followed by run off the road, 640 accidents that killed 563 persons, while head on collusion had 566 accidents killing 122 persons and 101 lives were lost in 406 pedestrian accidents.

244 accidents hit from side and 136 accidents hit from back claimed 48 and 38 lives respectively. 109 accidents due to vehicle overturn that killed 54 persons, with animal 6 killing three persons, 104 accidents with fixed objects killing 44, 71 with parked vehicle killing 13 and other accidents contributed to 160 accidents killing 58 persons.

The total number of road accidents on National Highway was 1460 that killed 528 persons, while on state highways was 777 killing 257 persons.