Hyderabad Logged Over 9,100 Road Accidents in 2023, Says Police

HYDERABAD: A striking mismatch has emerged between the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data and the local police records on road accidents in Hyderabad, suggesting that national statistics may be significantly underreporting the city’s road safety crisis.

NCRB data shows far fewer accidents than city records

According to the NCRB’s 2023 report, Hyderabad recorded 2,943 road accidents and 335 deaths. However, figures compiled from the three city police commissionerates — Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda — show a much higher toll of 9,101 accidents and 1,779 deaths in the same year.

The discrepancy has persisted for years. In 2022, the tri-commissionerate areas logged 8,599 accidents, over 241% more than the NCRB’s figure of 2,516. Similarly, in 2021, the NCRB listed 2,273 accidents while local police reported 8,816. Even in 2019 and 2020, the official bureau’s figures were far lower than the city’s own data.

Spread of commissionerates and urban expansion

The disparity is partly attributed to how the NCRB defines “Hyderabad city.” The bureau’s data is limited to the 650 sq km under the Hyderabad commissionerate, while urban growth has spread far beyond this area. Cyberabad covers 3,679.7 sq km and Rachakonda spans 5,121 sq km, together forming a vast urban region where most traffic incidents now occur.

In 2023, Rachakonda recorded the highest number of accidents (3,321), followed by Cyberabad (3,143) and Hyderabad (2,637).

Evenings most dangerous for commuters

NCRB data shows that evening hours (18.00–21.00 IST) were the most accident-prone, with 474 crashes, followed by 435 between 12 PM– 3 PM and 427 between 3 PM to 6 PM.

Most incidents took place on city roads (2,418), resulting in 2,139 injuries and 254 deaths, while 405 occurred on national highways and 120 on state highways.

Two-wheelers top accident chart

Two-wheelers were involved in 2,247 accidents, causing 260 deaths in 2023. Cars, SUVs and three-wheelers followed distantly. November saw the highest monthly accidents (309 cases), while March was the lowest (190).

National picture: Overspeeding main killer

Across India’s 53 major cities, road accidents made up 97.3% of all traffic accidents. Delhi (5,715), Bengaluru (4,980), Chennai (3,653) and Indore (3,566) ranked ahead of Hyderabad.

Overspeeding accounted for 53.4% of all urban road deaths nationwide in 2023, killing 8,635 people, followed by dangerous driving (27.6%) and drunk driving (2.7%).