Road accidents have claimed more lives than wars, militancy, Naxalism: Gadkari

More people have lost their lives in India in road accidents than wars, militancy and Naxalism, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.

Addressing the sixth Edition of FICCI Road Safety Awards and Conclave 2024, Gadkari further said the number of blackspots is increasing because of bad detailed project reports (DPRs) of road projects.

"More people have lost lives in road crashes than wars, militancy and Naxalism," he said.

According to Gadkari, India accounts for 5 lakh accidents and 1.5 lakh deaths annually, while 3 lakh people are injured.

"This caused a 3 per cent loss to the country's GDP. Like a sacrificial lamb, a driver is blamed for every accident. Let me tell you, and I observe minutely -- often, the road engineering is at fault," he said.

The minister emphasised on the need to conduct safety audit of all highways.

He also noted that to reduce number of accidents, "we need to follow lane discipline".

Gadkari added that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is readying codes for ambulance and its drivers, to train them in using sophisticated machinery like cutters to rescue road accident victims quickly.