Road accidents in India: I try to hide my face in meetings abroad, says Nitin Gadkari
- India witnesses around five lakh road accidents every year with around 1.5 lakh deaths and another three lakh people with injuries.
Road accidents in India continue to kill over a lakh people every year, the highest around the world. The Centre's inability to reduce road accidents in the last 10 years has also made Union Minister Nitin Gadkari uncomfortable to the point that he feels embarrassed during meetings. Gadkari, who leads the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), rues his ministry's failure to control the number of road accidents in India during his tenure.
Nitin Gadkari was seen rueing his failure as a minister to reduce road accidents in India during a discussion on the topic in Lok Sabha on Thursday. Gadkari had earlier said his ministry had set a target to reduce road accidents in India by 50 per cent. The minister said road accidents in India has actually gone up in the last few years. In 2023, India witnessed more than 1.72 lakh road accidents, the highest across the world. There were 55 road accidents and 20 fatalities every hour last year.
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Road accidents in India: Why Gadkari is embarrassed
During his reply to a question on the topic of road accidents in India, Gadkari said he feels embarrassed while meeting foreign dignitaries abroad. He said, "Forget about reducing the number of accidents, I have no hesitation to admit that it has been increased. When I go to attend international conferences where there is a discussion on road accidents, I try to hide my face."
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Road accidents in India: Gadkari puts blame on indiscipline
Gadkari blamed indisciplined driving as the biggest reason why India has not seen reduction in the number of road accidents. Over-speeding, drunk driving, wrong-side driving are some of the highest traffic rule violations recorded in India every year as the biggest killers on the road. Gadkari had also blamed the lack of fear of the law among people as one of the reasons why violation of traffic rule has been on the rise.
While lamenting on road accidents in India, Gadkari also informed that around 1.78 lakh people die in such incidents every year. About 60 per cent of all these road accident victims are in the age group of 18-34 years. Road accident fatalities are the highest in Uttar Pradesh among states while Delhi tops the same list for cities.
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