Lucknow, Dec. 30 -- As Uttar Pradesh prepares to observe National Road Safety Month from January 1, fresh official data indicates that 2025 all is set to end up being the deadliest year on the state's roads in the recent past. District-wise figures compiled from January till November by the transport department show an unprecedented spike in fatalities, with road accident deaths rising by 14.1% over the same period last year, a rare double-digit increase after years of relatively decreased or single-digit growth. A total 24, 776 people were killed in road accidents from January to November this year. As many as 21,710 people died in road accidents in the corresponding period of the previous year. There were 3,066 more deaths this year till November. The year-on-year increase in road accident deaths in 2024 was just 2% though absolute numbers were high at 24,118, marking the lowest growth in recent years. In comparison, the increase in fatalities was 6.2% in 2023 and 4.7% in 2022. "The year 2025 is shaping to be the deadliest year with over 14% growth over the corresponding period over 2024 and this is a matter of serious concern," road safety expert and former additional transport commissioner PS Satyarthi said. The data points to a broad-based worsening of road safety conditions. Road accidents have increased by 11.4%, rising from 41,483 cases last year to 46,223 this year, while the number of injured has gone up by 12.4% to 35,159. "The steeper rise in deaths compared to accidents suggests that crashes are becoming more severe, triggering concerns over overspeeding, poor helmet and seatbelt compliance, enforcement gaps and delays in emergency medical response," Satyarthi said. High-traffic and urbanised districts have emerged as major contributors to the surge in fatalities. Prayagraj recorded a jump of over 40% in road accident deaths, closely followed by Raebareli, Sonbhadra and Pilibhit, while Mathura and Agra also reported steady double-digit increases. In several districts, fatalities rose sharply even where accident numbers did not increase proportionately, underlining a trend of more lethal crashes rather than merely higher frequency. Though a few districts such as Maharajganj, Lalitpur, Mirzapur and Unnao reported marginal declines or near-stagnation in death figures, these isolated improvements were overwhelmed by widespread increases across much of the state, including economically and administratively significant regions. Even Lucknow, despite multiple traffic management initiatives, saw a rise in road accident deaths, reflecting the strain caused by rapid urbanisation and growing vehicular density. The surge comes in sharp contrast to the state government's stated objective of halving road accident deaths by 2030 in line with national and global road safety commitments. Experts note that while enforcement often intensifies during campaign periods, year-round vigilance remains inconsistent, allowing overspeeding, drunk driving, wrong-side driving and poor protection of pedestrians and two-wheeler riders to persist as dominant causes. As Uttar Pradesh gears up for National Road Safety Month, authorities are expected to roll out awareness drives, stricter enforcement and black-spot corrections. However, the data suggests that symbolic campaigns alone may no longer be enough.Satyarthi said without continuous enforcement, technology-driven surveillance, safer road engineering and faster emergency response things are unlikely to improve in future, casting a shadow over the state's road safety ambitions. "There is a need to analyse reasons as to why despite all the efforts, the number of fatalities spiked to this extent," he suggested....