BMW crash puts focus back on Delhi’s road safety record

The death of a senior finance ministry official in a car crash here has once again put the spotlight back on Delhi's persistently high number of fatal accidents involving two-wheelers. Official data shows the city continues to lose nearly four lives every day on its roads.

Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Navjot Singh, 52, a resident of Hari Nagar, was killed in the accident on the Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on Sunday afternoon. His wife sustained serious injuries. They were returning home after visiting the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara.

Gaganpreet Kaur, 38, the woman who allegedly drove the BMW car involved in the crash, was arrested on culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other charges on Monday after being discharged from a hospital.

According to Delhi Traffic Police data, 2,325 accidents involving two-wheelers were recorded in 2024. Of these, 1,737 were categorised as 'simple', while 588 were 'fatal'. These crashes left 2,234 people injured and 611 dead.

Fatal accidents accounted for 25.29 per cent of the total, highlighting the grave risks faced by bikers and scooter riders who dominate Delhi's traffic.

Between January 1 and April 15 this year, 669 two-wheeler accidents were reported. Of these, 136 were fatal and 533 were simple, leading to 696 injuries and 141 deaths in just 15 weeks.

From January to May 2025, Delhi Police recorded 2,235 road accidents across all categories. These resulted in 577 fatalities and 2,187 injuries. While this marks a decline from 652 deaths in the same period last year, the toll still translates to an average of nearly four deaths every day.

March was the deadliest month in that period, with 137 fatal crashes and 139 deaths. April saw fewer fatal accidents, with 91 such cases, but reported the highest number of injuries at 476, pointing to a rise in high-impact collisions.

In May alone, 458 accidents were reported, including 100 fatal ones that resulted in 107 deaths and 458 injuries.

The 'Road Accidents in India 2023' report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways earlier this year had already identified Delhi as the most dangerous city for road users among India's million-plus cities.

The capital logged 5,834 road accidents that year, the highest among cities, leading to 1,457 deaths and 5,670 injuries. Two-wheeler riders were highly vulnerable, accounting for 549 of the deaths. Overspeeding was the leading cause, responsible for more than 60 per cent of fatalities, followed by violations such as drunken driving and wrong-side driving.

Separately, the Delhi Police Road Crash Fatalities Report 2023 pegged that the pedestrians accounted for 43 per cent of the victims, while two-wheeler riders made up 38 per cent. The toll represented a slight dip from 2022, when 1,264 deaths were reported. But 2024 saw a reversal of this decline, with 1,504 fatal accidents recorded, of which 39 per cent involved two-wheelers.

The concern is caused by the fact that the number of injuries has continued to rise. Between January and May 2025, injuries climbed to 2,187 compared to 2,106 in the same period last year. Minor accidents also went up from 1,634 in 2024 to 1,654 this year, while the number of non-injury accidents halved from 45 in 2024 to 25 in 2025.

Sunday's accident brought the statistics into sharp focus.

In another recent case, two youths, aged 21 and his 22-year-old friend, died when their car crashed into a tree in Naraina, west Delhi. Police said the driver was overspeeding and lost control of the vehicle.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)