More people died from road accidents last year than from Covid-19: Nitin Gadkari
- The Union Minister said the government is very much concerned about road accidents and will have to take all steps to reduce road accidents
The Centre is serious about reducing road accidents as more people died from such mishaps in the last year than from the novel coronavirus infection, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
During the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister said the government is very much concerned about road accidents and will have to take all steps to reduce road accidents.
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"Our government is serious about reducing road accidents...1.5 lakh people died due to road accidents in the last one year which is more than 1.46 lakh deaths due to COVID-19," Gadkari said.
He further noted that most of those who died due to road accidents were people in the age group of 18-35.
Meanwhile, Taj Hassan, Special Commissioner Police, Traffic, Delhi Police had earlier said that there was a 26% drop in the number of accidents. A total of 5,610 accidents, including 1,433 fatal ones, were reported in 2019, while 4,178, including 1,163 fatal accidents were reported in 2020.
There was an 18% decrease in deaths and a 29% decrease in injured due to road accidents. In 2019, 5,152 injuries and 1,463 deaths were reported, while in 2020, 3,662 injuries and 1,196 deaths were reported.
Non-injury accidents, meanwhile, dropped by 65.4%.
Also, more than 21,000 people were killed, while over 46,000 were injured in road accidents in Gujarat in the last three years, till September 2020.
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According to a recent World Bank report, India accounts for the highest number of road accidents globally, with 1.5 lakh people being killed and more than 4.5 lakh crippled annually in 4.5 lakh road accidents with losses amounting to 3.14% of the GDP.
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