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‘Lack of fear of law’: Gadkari expresses concern over rising road accidents
The number of road accidents in 2022 increased by 11.9% compared to 2021, and the number of deaths and injuries on account of road accidents increased by 9.4%, Gadkari said
Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday expressed concerns over the increasing number of road accidents in India, citing a “lack of fear of the law” as a major contributor to the problem.
Gadkari said that a lot of accidents happen due to overspending and that lane discipline is very important as he called for the need to change the mindset of the people regarding violations of traffic rules to “improve road safety and prevent needless loss of life”.
“In the public mind, there is no fear or respect for the law. We need cooperation from the stakeholders and educational institutions. Our target is to reduce the accident death by 50% before 2030,” Gadkari said during the question-hour session in the Rajya Sabha.
The ministry had in October released a report titled ‘Road Accidents in India-2022’ where it noted that road accidents in India had hit an “all-time high” last year.
In 2022, over speeding was a major cause, accounting for 71.2% of the persons killed, followed by driving on the wrong side (5.4%), according to the report.
The number of road accidents in 2022 increased by 11.9% compared to 2021, and the number of deaths and injuries on account of road accidents increased by 9.4%, Gadkari said.
“The total number of road accidents and fatalities in the country during the year 2022 were reported as 4,61,312 and 1,68,491, respectively. 4,12,432 accidents and 1,53,972 casualties were reported in 2021,” Gadkari, in his written reply to the parliament said.
According to the ministry’s report, 33% of all road accidents and 35% of fatal accidents took place on national highways and expressways. This is despite record investments in improving highway infrastructure, said Gadkari.
Gadkari said that in FY24, the highways ministry was given the highest allocation from the Union Budget at Rs.2.7 trillion, adding that the pace of construction of national highways during the last five years has increased by 43%.
Gadkari, however, stressed the government’s seriousness over the rise in accidents and noted that the three-year-long lag for publishing accident data previously had now come down to one year.
“The real-time monitoring of accident data is a challenging thing. We aim to establish a monitoring system that will collect accident data and initiate immediate corrective measures within 15 days. This is a serious issue, and the government is very serious about it,” Gadkari said.
