786 accident zones on nat'l highways to be fixed soon: Gadkari

Union Transport minister Nitin Gadkari today said nearly 800 "black spots" (accident zones) identified on national highways across the country, will be soon fixed to bring down road mishaps.

Inaugurating the two-day national workshop on Road Safety here, he said the Government had identified 786 black spots on national highways and it will be set right at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore.

Gadkari said at least 1.5 lakh deaths occur per year due to road accidents in the country and this can be reduced by 50 percent in near future in co-operation with all state transport ministers.

Expressing concern on increasing road accidents in the country, he said 70-80 percent of mishaps occur due to road engineering defects.

He said the best of technology would be utilised to employ best engineering systems for road construction.

Also, the government will take all measures for transparent and corrupt-free system for issuance of driving licenses and certification as well as registration of vehicles, the minister assured.

As part of skill development, an institute for training of drivers, and research centres will also be established in each state.

Trauma care centres besides ambulance with necessary staff will be introduced at various points on national highways, Gadkari said.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said education, engineering, enforcement are very essential to control road accidents. He said it was important to educate children and drivers to follow traffic rules.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu too said his government will implement best practices followed by other states to control road accidents.

He attributed the reasons for increasing road accidents to over-speeding, overload of vehicles and drunken driving.

The Chief Minister underlined the need for checking drunken driving at all check-posts on national and state highways.

Transport ministers from 18 states and transport officials from Central and state governments besides World Bank officials and foreign delegates are attending the conference.