Government to reduce road deaths by half in 2 years: Nitin Gadkari

NEW DELHI: The government is committed to reduce the number of road accidents by 50% in the next two years and is employing various measures to achieve this objective, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday. "These measures are geared to tackle the problem through a multi-pronged strategy which include effective road engineering solutions at the design stage, rectification of accident black spots, improvement in automobile engineering, driver education, revision and effective enforcement of laws," Gadkari said.

He was speaking at the one day national level workshop on Road Safety Engineering Measures. Speaking about the importance of road engineering in preventing accidents and the resultant loss of lives, the Minister said that simple and well thought out designs like the height of road dividers, placement of over-bridges and underpasses at appropriate places or the placement and design of speed breakers can often be very effective in ensuring safety on roads.

Gadkari called upon all Project Directors and Regional Officers of Highway Projects to adopt a sensitive, sensible, time-bound and result oriented approach to tackle the problem of road accidents and take up the work of rectification of accident Black Spots in mission mode.

He also called upon all highway engineers to ensure that sound engineering solutions are put in place at the design stage of the highway itself.