IRF, MoRTH and UP govt working to reduce fatal accidents on Yamuna Expressway

International Road Federation (IRF) on Tuesday has announced that it is working with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and Uttar Pradesh government to reduce the fatal accidents on 165 km long Yamuna Expressway that plays a key role in connecting the national capital region with the rest of the state.

IRF claims that it aims to make the Yamuna Expressway a demonstration 'Forgiving Road' with almost zero fatalities and serious injuries, reports PTI. The Forgiving Road is a global concept that aims at avoiding minimising the harm and consequences of traffic accidents using different innovative technologies.

IRF President emeritus KK Kapila has said that the global road safety organisation has chosen seven worst-affected highway stretches across the country. These highway stretches are located in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Kerala and Karnataka.

As IRF claims, the objective of the exercise is to transform these highway stretches across India, in association with the state governments, into forgiving roads with almost zero fatalities and serious injuries. The transformation of these highway stretches will be done through a series of corrective road safety management measures. These will address engineering, education, enforcement and emergence care.

India is one of the countries in the world with an alarmingly high number of road accidents and deaths due to those mishaps. Every year, lakhs of people die due to road accidents. Several lakh more people are injured fatally due to the accidents.

Since 2018, India has witnessed 1.35 lakh cases of hit-and-run. The country also recorded 1.2 lakh cases of deaths due to negligence relating to road accidents in 2020. Despite the lockdown last year and the transport restrictions, around 328 people lost their lives every day on average.