Govt to spend Rs 11K cr to fix black accident spots: Gadkari

Concerned over alarmingly high number of 5 lakh annual road accidents in the country, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said the government will spend Rs 11,000 crore over 5 years to fix "black" accident spots.
"Road accidents cause an annual loss of Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore which amounts to 3 per cent of the GDP. It is saddening to see that mostly youth in the age bracket of 22-33 years lose their lives. To deal with such an alarming scenario 726 black spots have been identified across the country," said the Road Transport and Highways Minister.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the government has decided to spend Rs 11,000 crore over 5 years to fix these accidental spots by correcting road design, addressing engineering issues and building underpasses and flyovers.

Gadkari said work on 10 black spots in Delhi began today and some of these are such where up to 150 persons have lost their lives. These spots are: Sarai Kale Khan, Kashmere Gate chowk (Morigate), Nigam Bodh Ghat, Mukundpur Chowk, Dr Bhahbha Marg crossing, Punjabi Bagh Chowk, ISBT Kashmere Gate, Mahipalpur Flyover, Shani Mandir and Shahdara Flyover.
"In a year 5 lakh accidents take place in the country, of which 1.5 lakh people die and another 3 lakh are crippled for life. So many people do not even die in wars or extremism killing or disease. This is a serious concern," Gadkari said.

He also appealed to states to correct such spots in State Highways as well as municipal and district roads, saying that his ministry was contemplating approaching Finance Ministry for some assistance to states from the Centre under the Central Road Cess.

He said up to 30 pilot projects have been initiated to bring reforms in driving licence system and computerised driving tests will become mandatory. Once a driver clears the test, he or she will be issued the licence within three days.
Also, cycle tracks will be made beside the highways for people and a Road Safety Authority will be there, he added.

(Reopens DEL 51)
"The government is committed to making National Highways accident-proof and has taken a number of steps to improve the situation including launch of a website where people can inform about such spots and improving the road engineering, construction of flyover and underpasses etc," Gadkari said.
Terming it unfortunate that about 30 per cent of driving licenses were "bogus" in the country, he said that the system for grant of licence would be made electronic.
On safety measures in vehicles, he said that "no car will be built without airbag and trucks cabin will require mandatory air-conditioned fittings".

Stating that the focus is also on developing light helmets as available in Korea, Gadkari expressed the hope that Parliament will soon pass the Road Transport and Safety Bill which has a number of steps to minimise road accidents.
He said the government was aiming to reduce accidents by at least 50 per cent and roads are being equipped with CCTVs in 12 cities to check the traffic violation.
At the Walkathon event, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that a life is lost every four minutes in road accidents and stressed on the need for a National Road Safety Authority.

Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan, who was also present on this occasion, stressed on the need to make fastening of belts mandatory for people in the back seat of vehicles.
Vardhan recalled the accidents causing death of former Union Minister Gopinath Munde and ex-Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma, while also mentioned the mishap taken place with the BJP's Mathura MP Hema Malini.
He further said there should be norms for building speedbreakers as faulty designs often cause accidents, and demanded a ban on use of horns as prevalent in many countries.
Delhi Police commissioner B S Bassi said people should adhere to road safety norms on the ground of humanity rather than out of fear of paying penalty or suspension of driving licence.

Delhi alone witnessed 1,500 deaths in road accidents last year, he said.
Cricketer Gautam Gambhir also urged people to follow traffic rules to reduce road accidents.
The walkathon was organised by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in association with the Delhi Police and the Society for Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM) to create awareness about road safety among general public and to solicit their active participation in the road safety movement.
The ministry along with Public Works Department of Delhi government and International Road Federation (IRF) have chalked out a plan to treat and remove ten major accident black spots identified by Delhi Traffic police on a priority basis in the capital.

Delhi Traffic Police has identified and had provided a list of the 10 "black spots" where a maximum number of accidents occur, based on data collected during 2014.
Overall, however, the total number of accident spots identified by the Traffic Police are 128 in Delhi.