The hill state of Uttarakhand with its many tourist hotspots reported a high number of road accidents in the first seven months of this year, compared to data from recent years. Since 2019, the number of people dying in road accidents in Uttarakhand has been rising every year, with a sudden jump this year.
Factors like potholes, absence of crash barriers in many locations and night driving contribute to the rising accident statistics. Consequently, the Uttarakhand government and its transport department have been making continuous efforts to curb road accidents. measures to prevent accidents are actively being considered While the accident graph is rising. Alongside social media awareness campaigns, plans are in place to map hazardous locations and use new technologies to prevent accidents. Despite these initiatives, however, the expected reduction in road accidents has not yet materialised. Driving on the wrong side of the road is also contributing to the rise in accidents.
A comparison of road accident fatalities showed that while 795 people died by July 2025, the figure stands at 775 for the same period in 2026. Specifically, the 775 deaths recorded by July 2026 translate to an average of three fatalities per day over just seven months. In contrast, the total road accident deaths for the entire 2025 was 1,285, also averaging three deaths daily – or one death in a road accident every eight hours. Data showed that 53 per cent of road accident fatalities in Uttarakhand happened in the state’s three plain districts, whereas this figure reached 84 per cent in the hilly regions – far exceeding the national average of 33 per cent.
This funding is being used to rectify 179 “black spots” or accident-prone zones across the state, with remedial work already completed at 169 of these locations. Shailesh Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner of the Uttarakhand Transport Department, said rash driving and speeding are the primary causes of road accidents in Uttarakhand. He said the Transport Department is working in coordination with the police to address the issue of road accidents.
