The year 2019 has seen an increased number of road accident deaths in the state of Gujarat, in India, which recorded Thirteenth highest number of road deaths in the country.

As per latest National Road Accident data released by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for the year 2019, road accidents killed over 151,000 people in 2019 crashes. The number of crashes left 451,000 injured in the country.

“India accounts for about 12% of the global road accident fatalities. Several initiatives for improving road safety such as the amendment of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA), improvement in roads from the engineering perspective, road safety audits at all stages of road construction beginning from from the planning stage besides identification and remedy of black spots in a sustained systematic manner on war footing can help bring down fatal road accidents in the country”, said Mr. K K Kapila, President Emeritus, International Road Federation (IRF).

“India is signatory to the United Nation’s Decade of Action Plan for road safety across the world which aims to reduce road fatalities by 50% by the year 2020. But the target seems nowhere near”, said Mr. Kapila.

He added: “Strict enforcement of the new Motor Vehicle Act wearing of helmets and seat belts , improvement in road engineering, clearing of black spots can help in reduction of fatal road accidents in the state”.

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