Action plan to reduce accidents on cards

Ministry has started identifying accident spots

Worried over the alarming rise in road accidents in the country, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working on national action plan to reduce it at least by half in next five years.

The action plan include new road safety norms, redesigning of roads, adding new safety features in vehicles mainly in two wheelers, setting up more trauma care centres, educating people on road safety measures and tightening the process of issuing driving licences, senior official in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways told Deccan Herald.

The ministry is working closely with the World Bank, World Health Organisation and the International Road Federation to improve designs of roads to make them more safer, he said. Though the ministry has already started identifying accidents spots in highways and taking corrective steps, the government is preparing an action plan to make it applicable to all over the country so that the states can also work towards rectifying fault in roads in their respective areas.

For the past few years, road accidents have been increasing in the country and last year, country witnessed 4.89 lakh accidents and over 1.39 lakh people were killed and over 4.30 lakh were injured. Two wheeler riders involved highest accidents in last year with 27 per cent of the total mishaps followed by taxies, car and jeep with 22.7 per cent.  Road accidents impose a huge socio-economic cost in terms of deaths, injuries and loss of potential income.  “The ramifications of road mishaps can be colossal and its negative impact is felt not only on individuals, their health and welfare but also on economy”, said the Road Accidents in India report prepared by the Ministry of Transport.

“The loss to the Indian economy due to fatalities and accident injuries is estimated at 3 per cent of GDP,” says the ministry. On top of that, more than 53 per cent of the road accidents victims are in the age group of 15 to 34 years.