Why Road Accidents Are Claiming More Lives Despite Stricter Laws: Gadkari Says This Is Why

The Indian government has been keen on improving the quality of roads and infrastructure in the country. Equal enthusiasm is being placed on reducing the accident rate and fatalities here. The government has recently been installing better and more effective surveillance systems and curated penalty structures for offenders- all intended to reduce accident rates. Despite these active efforts, road fatalities have only increased over the years. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari recently tried to explain the rising crash rates.

In the lower House, Gadkari was answering a question during Question Hour, when he went vocal about road accident rates. He said he is extra sensitive to the issue as he has had a terrible road accident in his life. He was involved in a crash at the time when he was serving as the leader of the opposition in Maharashtra. His leg suffered four fractures in the mishap. The minister has since then been very sensitive to the issue and has over the years, been devising laws and measures to reduce crashes.

The Union Minister further said that there are four factors that could potentially reduce accidents- road engineering, automobile engineering, enforcement of law and people’s education. The government is working on the road engineering and infrastructure development, OEMs are striving to improve vehicles, and there are laws being made and amended to suit the evolving landscape.

According to Gadkari, the biggest problem is the lack of respect for laws among people. He says citizens now are no longer afraid of laws or penalties. This, in a way, leads them to break the laws and potentially end up in crashes or close calls. Jumping Red signals, not wearing helmets, not using seatbelts, etc are common sights these days. The minister further says that around 30,000 people die in our country because of not wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.

He further refrains from hesitating to accept the fact that around 1.68 lakh road accident deaths occurred in 2024 alone, despite all the governmental efforts to bring the count down. Many of these, he says, were due to the lack of a strict enforcement/ implementation of rules and regulations.

Gadkari further explains that the government has increased fines and insists that the public representatives, media and society should all come together to raise awareness and ensure the effective implementation of rules and regulations. The collective goal should be to bring down the crash rates and death counts.

How The Government Is Dealing With Blind Spots?

The current road infrastructure in India has plenty of blind spots, spread across various locations and topographies, These are extremely prone to accidents and fatalities owing to their limited/ restricted visibilities. The government has allotted Rs 40,000 crores to ‘fix’ these. Gadkari says the government would have take a holistic approach to addressing blind spots.

The Union Minister Calls For A Parliamentary Discussion

Gadkari has made a strong request to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to hold a dedicated discussion on road safety, where he hopes to address and underline these issues and their feasible fixes. He says “The government is determined to improve the situation, but it requires collective effort”- a spirited call to the public for maximum cooperation and support.

We can expect to seen stricter enforcement, better infrastructure, and a more rapid shift towards respecting traffic laws in the upcoming times.