Deadlier than pandemic: Gadkari calls for reducing road accident deaths

The road accident scenario in India is more dangerous than the pandemic, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said Saturday as he pointed to potential savings of Rs 90 lakh per person if such deaths are prevented.

Releasing a World Bank report on traffic crash injuries Saturday, Gadkari said: “For the government, each life is precious, whether poor or rich, urban or rural, male or female. The situation is alarming… there are more deaths than in Covid-19… It is more dangerous than Covid-19.”

He termed the World Bank report an eye-opener.

India accounts for the highest number of road accidents globally, with 1.5 lakh people being killed and more than 4.5 lakh being disabled annually in 4.5 lakh road accidents. The losses amount to 3.14 per cent of the GDP.

“In India, the cost per seriously injured person comes to Rs 3.64 lakh while the cost for a person with minor injury is Rs 77, 938. The cost per death is estimated at Rs 91.16 lakh,” he said.