Nitin Gadkari says road accidents deadlier than COVID in India; lists mitigating steps

While releasing a World Bank report on traffic crash injuries, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said road accidents in India are more dangerous than COVID-19.

 “For the government, each life is precious, whether poor or rich, urban or rural, male or female. The situation is alarming… there are more deaths than in Covid-19… It is more dangerous than Covid-19," Gadkari said. 

Gadkari said that India stands at the number one position in road accidents in the world, ahead of the US and China. He further added the central government has proposed a programme to improve road safety and to incentivize the states with Rs 14,000 crores. He said road safety is mostly a behavioral issue, and it requires cooperative federalism to boost coordination right from block to taluka level. India is observing Road Safety Month currently to build awareness on road safety issues.

“In India, the cost per seriously injured person comes to Rs 3.64 lakh while the cost for a person with a minor injury is Rs 77, 938. The cost per death is estimated at Rs 91.16 lakh,” he added. 

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India with the highest number of road accidents

India accounts for the highest number of road accidents globally, with 1.5 lakh people being killed and more than 4.5 lakh crippled annually in 4.5 lakh road accidents.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Gadkari also reviewed all the road projects in Maharashtra and said that the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will ease the current traffic load on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway once it is completed. 

22 Months Without Railway Accident Fatality

However, as far as Railway accidents are concerned, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on February 12 had announced that zero passenger deaths were witnessed in nearly 22 months due to train accidents. He said in Rajya Sabha that the last passenger died due to a rail accident on 22 March 2019. For almost 22 months, not a single passenger has died due to a rail accident.

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