From awareness to identification, centre takes several measures to curb road accidents

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The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, stated the measures in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The central government has undertaken a new project, called the


'Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD)' to tackle road accidents in the country, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari stated in the Rajya Sabha on


Monday. The project, funded by the World Bank, will be aimed at collecting on-site data from accident-prone areas online through app-based software to build a database. The database will be,


in turn, used by authorities to identify 'black spots' and other such accident-prone areas to reduce the occurrence of any mishaps in the future. A committee has also been


enlisted to make recording and reporting of road accident data more accurate and objective. The committee constitutes experts from a Committee was constituted consisting experts from the


Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, World Health Organization (WHO), senior officers from the police and transport departments of states, and other government


officials According to data provided by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 789 black spots have been identified based on accidents/fatality from 2011-2014. Among them, 660


black spots have been identified to be on National Highways (NH) and 129 black spots are under the jurisdiction of the state governments. According to Nitin Gadkari, 395 of the black spots


on the National Highways have already been rectified, while 215 are currently at the repairing stage. In addition to these, the government has also laid down strict rules that are to be


followed while designing, constructing and maintaining National Highways so as to reduce road accidents due to potholes. The concerned government agencies, i.e. National Highway Authority of


India (NHAI), National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), and state Public Works Departments (PWD) have already been notified in this regard.