New Delhi, June 13 -- India's roads became deadlier in 2024, with fatalities from road crashes rising to 177,175, a 2.5% increase from 1,72,890 in 2023, according to the latest Road Accidents in India 2024 report released by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH). The country recorded 487,707 road accidents during the year, up 1.5% from the previous year. The 2024 toll is significantly higher than the 10-year average of around 154,000 fatalities annually between 2014 and 2023. Averaged out, in 2024, India witnessed approximately 485 deaths every day and 20.2 deaths hourly compared to 473 such deaths in 2023, 19.7 deaths every 60 minutes. While the number of deaths has increased, the death rate per 10,000 vehicles has continued its long-term decline - falling from 7.3 in 2014 to 4.8 in 2022 - as the number of vehicles has increased from 191 million in 2014 to 354 million in 2024, suggesting that safety improvements have struggled to keep pace with rapid motorisation and the increase in road length. Indian cities with a 50-million plus population reported a marginal 0.4% reduction in road accident fatalities. Among these cities, Delhi recorded the highest number of accidents (5,657), fatalities (1,551) and injuries (5,224) in 2024. The national capital also reported 147 pedestrian deaths at crossings, among the highest in the country. Bengaluru ranked second nationally in both accidents and fatalities, recording 4,769 crashes and 894 deaths during 2024. Chennai reported 3,762 accidents, the fifth-highest among million-plus cities, and 542 fatalities, placing it tenth on that metric. Mumbai recorded 2,604 accidents and 2,722 injuries, ranking 11th and ninth, respectively, while its 370 fatalities placed it 16th nationally. Kolkata reported the lowest casualty burden among the five major metros, with 1,942 accidents and 191 fatalities, ranking 18th and 37th, respectively. Ahmedabad recorded 125 fewer deaths during the year, followed by Dhanbad with 95 fewer deaths and Kanpur with 78 fewer deaths. Despite the overall improvement, several major metros continued to account for a significant share of urban road trauma. Hit-and-run cases recorded the sharpest rise in road fatalities in India in 2024, with deaths increasing by 9.0% year-on-year to 34,030, accounting for 19.2% of all road fatalities in the country. Rear-end ("Hit from back") collisions remained the single largest contributor to road deaths, claiming 37,404 lives and accounting for 21.1% of all fatalities. Deaths in this category rose by 1.6% compared to 2023.Head-on collisions were responsible for 28,400 deaths, or 16.0% of total road fatalities, although fatalities in this category declined by 1.7% year-on-year. Fatalities resulting from side-impact ("Hit from side") collisions increased by 5.3% during the year, indicating the growing severity of such crashes. In contrast, crashes involving parked vehicles recorded the most significant improvement, with fatalities falling by 20.4% from 2023 levels. The report also cemented some trends in road crash fatalities of the past decades, with two-wheelers (46.2%) followed by pedestrians at 20.6%. National Highways, despite constituting only 2.1% of India's road network, had a 36.6% share in deaths, while over-speeding was a reason for 70.3% of all road crash deaths. The 18-45 age group accounted for 66.1% of all road accident deaths in 2024. The share rises to 83.3% when the broader 18-60 working-age population is considered. Rural areas accounted for 70.8% of fatalities, underscoring the continuing rural-urban disparity in road safety outcomes. Accident severity, measured as the number of persons killed per 100 accidents, increased to 36.3 in 2024 from 36 in 2023. The figure has risen steadily from 20.1 in 2000, indicating that road crashes are becoming increasingly lethal. Straight roads remained the deadliest feature, claiming 118,817 lives (67.1% share) compared to 114,447 in 2023....