Question : High Rate of Road Accidents

(a) whether India has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world as per a recent report;
(b) if so, whether about 1.5 lakh people lose their lives and more than five times that number are injured every year on India’s roads as per the report and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether India needs to invest USD109 billion to halve its road accident fatalities in the next decade and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the said report states that the high death rate on India’s roads is caused by chronic lack of investment in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes and identifies relevant investment priorities to reverse the trend; and
(e) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken or being taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)
(a) to (e) Road accidents continue to be a major developmental issue, a public health concern and a leading cause of death and injury across the World killing around 1.35 million globally. As per available information, the total number of road accidents and the number of persons killed in such accidents in the country during the calendar year 2018 are as under:-

Year Total Accidents Number of persons killed No. of persons injured
2018 4,67,044 1,51,417 4,69,418

The World Bank in its report titled as “Delivering Road Safety in India- Leadership Priorities and Initiatives to 2030” have estimated requirement of additional investment of US$109 billion over the coming decade to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of a 50 percent reduction in national road crash fatalities.



The issues of road safety require a comprehensive and integrated approach by all stakeholders including State and Central Governments, municipal bodies etc. The focus has to be on institutional ownership of the problem, accountability for safer infrastructure, a regulatory framework that demands greater vehicle safety for all road users, targeted enforcement of unsafe road user behaviors, and improved post-crash health services.

The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 which was recently passed by Parliament focuses on road safety and includes, inter-alia, revision in penalties for traffic violations, electronic monitoring of the same, enhanced penalties for juvenile driving, computerization/automation of vehicle fitness and driving, tests, recall of defective vehicles, streamlining the third party insurance and payment of increased compensation for hit and run cases etc. The Amendment has strengthened the Law to improve the road Safety scenario and reduce loss of lives.

The Ministry issues regulations to improve vehicle safety standards, undertakes site specific interventions to address black spots, and also mobilises various activities to promote road safety such as road safety advocacy and awareness programmes.

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