Over 42,000 fatalities on national highways and expressways in 2014: government

There were a total of 42,049 fatal road accidents on national highways and expressways in India in 2014, slightly more than the 39,829 fatalities reported in 2013.

Pon Radhakrishnan, the minister of state for road transport and highways, told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that 2014 saw a total of 1,37,903 road accidents on national highways (including expressways), as against 1,36,786 in 2013.

According to him, the government has taken a number of steps to prevent road accidents. It has approved a National Road Safety Policy, which outlines various policy measures such as promoting awareness, establishing road safety information data base, encouraging safer road infrastructure including application of intelligent transport, enforcement of safety laws etc.

The government has also constituted the National Road Safety Council as the apex body to take policy decisions in matters of road safety. The ministry has asked all states to set up Road Safety Councils and District Road Safety Committees.

The government has also formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on four ‘E’s – education, engineering (both of roads and vehicles), enforcement and emergency care.

Source : BS Motoring