400 Indians died on roads every day in 2015

Deaths caused by road accidents in India witnessed a five percent rise in 2015 at 1.46 lakh, which translates into roughly 400 fatalities recorded every day, the Times of India reported.

At the same time, the number of fatalities and road crashes also increased to over five lakh in 2015 from 4.89 lakh in the previous year.

Most number of fatal accidents were recorded in Uttar Pradesh, where 17,666 people were killed, and Tamil Nadu, where 15,642 deaths were reported, while Maharashtra recorded 13,212, Karnataka 10,856 and Rajasthan 10,510 deaths due to road accidents, the TOI reported. 

Although there has been an increase on an average in all the big cities, at least 10 smaller cities and Union territories such as Delhi and Chandigarh saw a decline in fatal road accidents. Delhi and Assam recorded a total of 49 and 115 deaths, respectively, in 2015.

A recent incident where a man was killed after being hit by a speeding Mercedes car in Delhi made headlines across the country as the driver was a juvenile, who was a repeat offender. The death was allegedly caused by rash and negligent driving.

A Supreme Court panel on road safety has asked the state governments to increase measures to prevent accidents. Experts have also expressed concern over the rate at which people are dying on road accidents. 

"We need a comprehensive legislation to deal with this daily massacre on our roads. Stronger law and better enforcement are the key to reduce crashes," International Road Federation's KK Kapila said.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India Nitin Gadkari has vowed to bring down the number of deaths in road accidents by 50 percent by 2020.