Govt launches pilot programme for cashless treatment of road accident victims

• The government has launched a pilot programme to provide cashless treatment to road accident victims, under which they will be entitled to cashless treatment up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident.

• The pilot programme — being initiated in Chandigarh and developed under the aegis of the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) — is aimed at establishing an ecosystem for providing timely medical care to the victims of road accidents, including during the golden hour.

• Based on the outcome of the pilot programme, expansion of the cashless treatment facility to the entire country will be considered.

Implementation of pilot project

• The National Health Authority (NHA) shall be the implementing agency for the pilot programme, in coordination with police, hospitals, State Health Agency (SHA), etc.

• The programme will be implemented through an IT platform, combining the functionalities of the e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) application of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Transaction Management System (TMS) of NHA.

The broad contours of the pilot programme are:

i) Victims entitled to cashless treatment up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person for a maximum period of 7 days from date of the accident.

ii) Claims raised by hospitals for providing treatment will be reimbursed from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund.

iii) The pilot project will be applicable to all road accidents caused by the use of motor vehicles on any category of road.

1.68 lakh people died in road accidents in 2022

• A total number of 4,61,312 road accidents have been reported by police departments of states and Union Territories (UTs) in the country during the calendar year 2022, claiming 1,68,491 lives and causing injuries to 4,43,366 persons.

• This was revealed in the annual report on ‘Road Accidents in India-2022’ published by the ministry of road transport and highways.

Key points of the report:

• Overspeeding accounted for 72.3 per cent of the total road accidents, 71.2 per cent of total deaths and 72.8 per cent of total injuries.

• Drunken driving/consumption of alcohol & drugs, jumping the red light and use of mobile phones taken together accounted for 7.4 per cent of total accidents and 8.3 per cent of total deaths. 

• The others category, which would include reasons like road environment, vehicular condition, etc accounted for 18.2 per cent of the accidents and 18.1 per cent of fatalities. 

• Road accident severity measured by the number of persons killed per 100 accidents has slightly decreased to 36.5 in 2022 from 37.3 in 2021.

• A total of 50,029 persons were killed who were not wearing helmet, of which 71.3 per cent persons were riding the vehicle and 28.7 per cent were pillion passengers.

• As many as 16,715 people were killed in road accidents in 2022 because of not wearing seat belts.

• Out of these, 50.2 per cent were drivers and remaining 49.8 per cent were passengers.

• Amongst the states, Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents on National Highways, whereas, the number of persons killed in road accidents was the highest in Uttar Pradesh. 

• Of the total accidents recorded in the country, 32.9 per cent took place on the National Highways, including Expressways, 23.1 per cent on state highways and the remaining 43.9 per cent on other roads. 

• Out of the total fatalities reported in that year, 36.2 per cent were on National Highways, 24.3 per cent were on state highways and 39.4 per cent were on other roads.

• People in the age group of 18-45 years accounted for 66.5 per cent of fatal road accident victims during 2022.

• Two wheelers accounted for the highest share in total accidents and fatalities.

• ‘Hit from back’ accounted for the largest share in total accidents deaths (19.5 per cent), followed by ‘hit-and-run’ (18.1 per cent) and ‘head-on collision’ which accounted for 15.7 per cent.

• Globally, India has the highest number of total persons killed due to road accidents, followed by China and the United States.

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