Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways , said he hoped road accidents and resultant deaths in the country would be reduced by 50% by 2025, and that there should be no compromise on saving lives of persons involved in road accidents.
Gadkari made these remarks while inaugurating a webinar on ‘Vehicle Crashes and Road Safety’, organised by MIT-ADT University, Pune.
“The target is to reduce 50% of road accidents by 2025 and we can achieve zero deaths due to road accidents by 2030,” said Gadkari.
The ministry of road transport and highways aims to make roads safer by providing highways with four to 16 lanes, and to motivate vehicle manufacturers to implement technologies for vehicle safety, the minister said.
Gadkari said there is a need to expedite the task of saving lives in accidents. He said that the last year, the ministry participated in a conference in Sweden where a vision was conceptualised to have zero road fatalities in India by 2030.
“We had promised that we will reduce deaths and accidents by 50 per cent. Today, we saw the success story of Tamil Nadu. It (Tamil Nadu) has reduced accidents and deaths by 53 percent,” the minister said.
{{/usCountry}}“We had promised that we will reduce deaths and accidents by 50 per cent. Today, we saw the success story of Tamil Nadu. It (Tamil Nadu) has reduced accidents and deaths by 53 percent,” the minister said.
{{/usCountry}}He also stressed that the government has taken various initiatives to put a check on road accidents and the Centre is also working on reducing black spots.
The symposium on Vehicle Crashes and Road Safety’ seeks to raise awareness about causes of road accidents and measures to prevent them. These are highlighted through various activities involving students, drivers, and other road users.