Concerned over the rising number of road accidents, which kill more than one lakh people in the country every year, the Road Transport and Highways Minister, Dr C.P. Joshi, on Thursday called for immediate safety measures to curb the menace, including safe road design and awareness campaigns.

“Over one lakh persons get killed and more than 4.5 lakh persons are injured in our country every year in road accidents... This underlines the magnitude and urgency of spreading road safety awareness amongst all sections of road users,” the Minister said at a road safety workshop here.

Dr Joshi said vulnerable road users constitute up to 80 per cent of the total traffic fatalities in the country and this calls for awareness measures, especially for “pedestrians and school children.”

“The number of fatalities in the last two decades has seen a huge growth due to exponential growth of vehicles on our roads,” Dr Joshi said, adding that the socio-economic cost of road accidents has been estimated at three per cent of the GDP.

Terming the magnitude of accidents as “unacceptable”, he said it was necessary to have a system integrating all disciplines that influence road safety, including engineering, education and enforcement, along with medical and behavioural sciences.

All road designs should be a compromise between the ideal and a reasonable outcome in terms of cost, safety, service life, environmental and social issues, he added.

The major emphasis, Dr Joshi said, ought to be given to the road safety aspects such as strict enforcement of speed controls, mandatory use of seat belts and helmets and the safety designs of roads and vehicles.

He also said, “Strategies have to be devised for conducting safety audits of roads, collection and collation of accident data.”

India has the highest number of road accidents in the world, with more than one lakh people falling victim to road accidents every year.

Official figures show as many as 1.37 lakh people were killed in road accidents in 2008.

Related Topics