1.46 lakh people killed in road accidents in 2017: Gadkari

As many as 1.46 lakh people lost their lives in 4.60 lakh road accidents across the country in 2017, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.
Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha that a majority of the road accidents involved two-wheelers where the victims were not wearing helmets.
There were 4.80 road accidents in the country in 2016 in which 1.50 lakh people lost their lives, and in 2015, there were 5.01 lakh road accidents in which 1.46 lakh people were killed, he said during Question Hour.
The minister said the detailed age profile of road accidents victims in 2016 reveals that the age group of 18-45 years accounted for a share of 68.6 per cent (1,03,409 persons) in road accident fatalities.

Gadkari said the ministry of road transport and highways has taken a number of steps to prevent such road accidents, which include approval of a national road safety policy.
This policy outlines various 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, he said.
The government has constituted the national road safety council as the apex body to take policy decisions in matters of road safety. The ministry has requested all states and UTs to set up state road safety council and district road safety committee and to hold their meetings regularly, Gadkari said.