786 accident zones on nat’l highways to be fixed soon: Gadkari

Visakhapatnam, Aug 19 (PTI) Union Transport ministerNitin Gadkari today said nearly 800 "black spots" (accidentzones) identified on national highways across the country,will be soon fixed to bring down road mishaps. Inaugurating the two-day national workshop on Road Safetyhere, he said the Government had identified 786 black spots onnational highways and it will be set right at a cost of Rs11,000 crore. Gadkari said at least 1.5 lakh deaths occur per year dueto road accidents in the country and this can be reduced by 50per cent in near future in co-operation with all statetransport ministers. Expressing concern on increasing road accidents in thecountry, he said 70-80 per cent of mishaps occur due to roadengineering defects. He said the best of technology would be utilised toemploy best engineering systems for road construction. Also, the government will take all measures fortransparent and corrupt-free system for issuance of drivinglicenses and certification as well as registration ofvehicles, the minister assured. As part of skill development, an institute for trainingof drivers, and research centres will also be established ineach state. Trauma care centres besides ambulance with necessarystaff will be introduced at various points on nationalhighways, Gadkari said. Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said education,engineering, enforcement are very essential to control roadaccidents. He said it was important to educate children anddrivers to follow traffic rules. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu toosaid his government will implement best practices followed byother states to control road accidents. He attributed the reasons for increasing road accidentsto over-speeding, overload of vehicles and drunken driving. The Chief Minister underlined the need for checkingdrunken driving at all check-posts on national and statehighways. Transport ministers from 18 states and transportofficials from Central and state governments besides WorldBank officials and foreign delegates are attending theconference. PTI COR DK RCJBAS