Chennai: Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents on national highways in 2025, with 21,122 accidents and 6,156 fatalities, according to Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari. Across the country, 1.34 lakh accidents occurred last year, resulting in 57,482 deaths. Tamil Nadu saw an increase in accidents from 20,582 in 2023 to 20,672 in 2024 and topped states for the two years. In terms of fatalities, however, TN ranked second with Uttar Pradesh recording the highest number of deaths. “In order to reduce the fatality of accident victims, govt has taken up a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims and is presently implementing it on a pilot basis across six states/UTs, including Chandigarh, Assam, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Puducherry. Govt has planned its pan-India launch,” Gadkari said in a written reply to Pollachi MP K Eswarasamy in Lok Sabha. Key features of the cashless treatment scheme aim at strengthening the emergency care ecosystem and include coverage of up to 1.5 lakh per victim.
The ministry’s report on road accidents in India in 2023 identified over-speeding as a ‘major killer’ under traffic rule violations. Other contributing factors include drunken driving, driving on the wrong side, jumping red lights, and mobile phone usage. “Even as over-speeding is the main cause, proactive registration of cases, unlike other states, is also another reason for high numbers. The state also has no expressways or access-controlled roads, barring the Chennai bypass,” said a highways department official. Union govt allocated significant funds for development and maintenance of national highways over the past four years. These allocations were 8,230 crore, 9,925 crore, 9,077 crore, and 6,485 crore until Dec of the current fiscal year. In his reply to a query from Kancheepuram MP G Selvam, Gadkari said Arakkonam-Kancheepuram section of Chennai-Bengaluru expressway was stopped since May last year. This halt was due to financial constraints faced by the concessionaire. Being a greenfield corridor project, the expressway can only be commissioned upon the completion of all its packages.
