1,040 lives lost in road accidents caused by use of mobile phone while driving

New Delhi: A total of 1,997 road accidents occurred in 2021 due to the use of mobile phone by drivers while driving, which claimed 1,040 lives, according to a Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) report.

The report titled 'Road accidents in India -- 2021', further said 555 road accidents took place due to jumping of red light which claimed 222 lives in 2021.

According to the report, total number accidents and death due to potholes in 2021 respectively stood at 3,625 and 1,481.

The report noted that road accidents are multi-causal which requires multi-pronged measures to mitigate the problems through concerted efforts of all agencies of both central government and state governments.

It said the road ministry has formulated a multi pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on education, engineering (both of roads and vehicles), enforcement and emergency care.

A total of 4,12,432 road accidents occurred in 2021, which claimed 1,53,972 lives while 3,84,448 people were injured.