India accounts for 5 lakh road accidents every year, says Nitin Gadkari

India accounts for five lakh road accidents every year, which is the highest in the world, said road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari. He also said that road safety is the top priority for the government.

Speaking at the International Conference on Machine Vision and Augmented Intelligence (MAI) 2022, Gadkari said that road safety is a major concern across the world and has become a challenge for developing countries such as India.

Gadkari also said that road accidents in India result in around 1.5 lakh deaths and three lakh serious injuries every year. "It is unfortunate that 70 per cent of deaths occur in the age group of 18 to 45 years. Road safety is the top priority of our government," the minister further added.

Gadkari pointed out that there is a need for artificial intelligence to remove human interference and the possibility of errors. "My vision is to use AI for enforcement purposes in cities where state governments or municipal authorities are falling short due to a variety of reasons. There is a need for extensive integration of AI-based technology, which will remove human interference and the possibility of errors," Gadkari said.

The Union Minister identified high priority areas that could benefit from AI-based technology. These include forensic post-crash investigations, the pattern of accidents due to black spots, fatigue indicators, and sleep detectors for the driver, and advanced vehicle collision avoidance systems.

"We are also implementing an automatic number plate recognition NPR system for law and information and toll collection. All these automation and digitalization aim to improve our safety and enable real-time incident management," the minister added. Gadkari also said that the Central government has rolled out an advanced traffic monitoring system (ATMS).