India, Dec. 4 -- The number of road crash fatalities rose to 177,177 in 2024, the Union government told Parliament on Thursday.

Fatalities increased 2.5% from 172890 in 2023; roughly 485 people died every day across India in road accidents in 2024.

Chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division at the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) S Velmurugan said India's road crash deaths data corresponds to a trend seen in the global north in the previous decades.

"The latest rise in road fatalities is not surprising because India has still not reached the saturation point that many developed countries hit in the late 1990s, where numbers plateaued and then steadily dipped. In contrast, India continues to see a boom...