Indian government to rectify accident spots on national highways
The Indian government has directed the concerned authorities to rectify 726 black spots which are notorious for causing a high number of accidents.
Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, has said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha,"The road accident black spots are identified based on the number of fatalities. 726 road accident black spots are identified on National Highways based on 2011, 2012 and 2013 fatality data. Ministry issued guidelines/instructions to all the implementing agencies on investigation and rectification of these black spots."
"Road accidents cause an annual loss of Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore which amounts to 3 per cent of the GDP. It is saddening to see that mostly youth in the age bracket of 22-33 years lose their lives. To deal with such an alarming scenario, 726 black spots have been identified across the country," he further added.
In India, around 5 lakh accidents happen annually in which 1.5 lakh lives are lost while 3 lakh people are left disabled. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had recently said that the government will spend Rs 11,000 crore over five years to rectify the common accident spots.