KOCHI: Kerala is in a league of its own when it comes to saving road accident victims. The state may rank third in terms of number of road accidents, but its severity rate is the lowest in the country.
According to the Road Accidents in India report of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Kerala recorded 48,091 accidents in 2023, in which 4,080 people died. That translates to 8.5 fatalities per 100 accidents. The national average is 36.
Experts say this lower fatality is largely due to Kerala’s healthcare density and quick response. The contrast gets starker when stacked against states with the worst figures. Mizoram tops the severity table with a shocking 90.6 deaths per 100 accidents (96 fatalities in 106 crashes), followed by Bihar at 80.6 (8,873 deaths in 11,014 accidents) and Jharkhand at 78.5 (4,173 deaths in 5,315 accidents).
Big states also paint a grim picture. Tamil Nadu, which reported the most number of accidents — 67,213 in 2023 — saw 18,347 deaths, a severity rate of 27.3. In Uttar Pradesh, with the fourth-worst crash numbers, at 44,534, as many as 23,652 people died, pushing its severity rate to 53.1. At 55,327, Madhya Pradesh posted the second most number of accidents.
In Kerala, Malappuram and Kochi topped the accident charts with 3,253 and 2,803 crashes, respectively. However, in terms of accident severity, Kollam had the worst record within the state with nearly 10% of victims succumbing to injuries, followed by Malappuram (9.49%).
“Kerala is almost like a city-state with multispecialty hospitals within an hour’s reach. People are rushed to trauma-care units within the golden hour, unlike in other states where highways run through isolated stretches,” says transport expert Upendra Narayan.
Dr Sulfi Noohu, national coordinator of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), points to Kerala’s widespread trauma-care network and relatively slower roads. “We don’t have high-speed highways like in other states, which ironically helps reduce deaths from speeding. But we still have a long way to go to reach western standards,” he cautions.
Interestingly, road deaths in Kerala dipped by 237 in 2023 compared to 2022, breaking the post-lockdown uptrend. While most states have seen worsening severity rates since 2000, Kerala has proved that rapid medical response and road conditions can make the difference between life and death.
City-wise severity rate in Kerala
Kollam: 9.87% (211 deaths in 2,136 accidents)
Malappuram: 9.49% (309 deaths from 3,253 accidents)
Thrissur: 8.84% (231 out of 2,613)
Kozhikode: 7.84% (172 out of 2,194)
Kochi: 6.31% (177 out of 2,803)
Thiruvananthapuram: 6.19% (137 out of 2,213)
Kannur: 7.15% (117 out of 1,636)