Road safety is shared responsibility: Gadkari

Road safety is a shared responsibility and citizen’s participation is critical in reducing fatalities on India’s road, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday, stressing that changing public behaviour and enforcing traffic laws remain the country’s biggest challenges in improving road safety.

Addressing an event organised by mobility platform Rapido, Gadkari said India records nearly 5 lakh road accidents and 1.80 lakh fatalities annually.

“Road safety is a shared responsibility and citizen participation is critical to reducing fatalities on our roads...Our biggest problem is changing public behaviour and enforcing traffic laws,” he said.

The number of road accident fatalities in India went up by 2.3 per cent to over 1.77 lakh in 2024, resulting in the deaths of 485 persons every day.

A total number of 4,80,583 road accidents have been reported by the police departments of states and Union Territories (UTs) in the country during the calendar year 2023, claiming 1,72,890 lives and causing injuries to 4,62,825 persons.

“Through the Rahveer Scheme, we seek to encourage individuals to assist accident victims without hesitation and help save lives during the Golden Hour,” the road transport and highways minister said.

During a road accident, every second matters, especially in the critical ‘Golden Hour’, when timely help can save a life. To support and protect those who step forward in such moments, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notified the Good Samaritan Rules in 2020 under Section 134A of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The ‘Rah-Veer’ (Good Samaritan) Scheme also offers financial recognition and celebrates these individuals as real-life heroes who chose compassion over hesitation.

Under the scheme, anyone who helps an accident victim receive medical attention within the Golden Hour is eligible for a Rs 25,000 reward and a Certificate of Appreciation, with recognition available up to five times a year for repeat acts of bravery.

He said the government has also come up with a modified scheme to provide cashless treatment for road accident victims nationwide, under which they will be entitled to a maximum amount of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person for a maximum period of 7 days from the date of the accident.

Gadkari said the government has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on 4E’s, i.e., Education, Engineering (both of roads and vehicles), Enforcement and Emergency Care.

Accordingly, he said various initiatives have been taken for road safety in the country.

The minister said that the highways ministry has spent Rs 40,000 crore in removing black spots.

Road stretches where accidents occur frequently are designated as black spots.

Referring to contributions of the automobile sector in India’s economic growth, he said this sector contributes maximum GST to the Centre and state governments, and also provides employment to 4.5 crore youth.

“When I took charge as transport minister, the size of the Indian automobile industry was Rs 14 lakh crore. The size of the Indian automobile industry now is Rs 23 lakh crore,” Gadkari said.

Presently, the size of the US automobile industry is Rs 78 lakh crore, followed by China (Rs 47 lakh crore) and India (Rs 22 lakh crore).