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Around 60% road accident victims in 18-34 age group: Minister Nitin Gadkari
He also cited official data saying Delhi is the worst affected city with over 1,400 deaths, followed by Bengaluru with 915 deaths.
New Delhi: Minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that he hides his face over the number of road accidents in India during international conferences. He lamented that road accidents claim 1.78 lakh lives annually with around 60% of those dying being in the prime age group of 18-34 years.
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Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Gadkari said, “ I have no hesitation in admitting that it has increased,” adding that he had set a target to reduce accidents by 50% when he first took charge in 2014. On Wednesday, in the Rajya Sabha, he said India accounts for 11% of global road accident fatalities with 1% of all vehicles, according to a World Bank report.
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The minister also spoke about how he was hospitalised after being part of a road accident while travelling with his family. “By the grace of God, I and my family were saved. So I have my personal experience of accidents.” He mentioned parked trucks and lack of lane discipline as one reason for the accidents, and added that for things to improve, human behaviour in India has to change and rule of law has to be respected. He cited instances of people not obeying traffic signals and two-wheeler users not wearing helmets.
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He also cited official data saying Delhi is the worst affected city with over 1,400 deaths, followed by Bengaluru with 915 deaths. Jaipur registers 850 deaths due to road accidents. Among states, Uttar Pradesh fares worst with 23,000 fatalities (13.7% of all accident deaths), followed by Tamil Nadu with over 18,000 deaths or 10.6% of all road fatalities.
During the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Gadkari said that the government has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on 4Es— Education, Engineering (both of roads and vehicles), Enforcement and Emergency Care. Regarding black spots or accident-prone areas on national highways, he said a total of 13,795 black spots have been identified, out of which short-term rectification measures have been completed on 9,525 such spots and permanent ones on 4,777 black spots.
