New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS): Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that road safety is the top-most priority of the Government with a target to reduce accident deaths by 50 per cent till 2030.

Addressing the CII National Conclave on ‘Road Safety - Indian Roads@2030 - Raising the Bar of Safety’ Gadkari said that the latest report for 2022 shows that there has been a 12 per cent increase in road accidents and a 10 per cent increase in deaths in such mishaps resulting in a socio-economic loss of 3.14 per cent to GDP.

As many as 60 per cent of these deaths are in the young age group of 18 to 35 years.

An accident death is a loss of a bread-earner in a family, a professional loss to an employer and an overall loss to the economy, he added.

The Union Minister asked Indian Inc. to organise free camps for regular eye check-ups for drivers as part of their corporate social responsibility.

He said education and awareness among schools, colleges, collaboration with NGOs, start-ups, technology providers, IITs Traffic & Highway Authorities is the way forward for spreading good road safety practices.

Gadkari said that in 2022 there have been 4.6 lakh road accidents, 1.68 lakh deaths and 4 lakh serious injuries.

Every hour there are 53 road accidents and 19 deaths on Indian roads.

He pointed out that the system of rewards for good traffic behaviour among citizens has yielded positive results in Nagpur.

The Minister said a change in social behaviour is very important along with focusing on strengthening ‘4Es of Road Safety’ -Engineering (Road & Vehicle Engineering) - Enforcement - Education and Emergency Medical Service.

He emphasized on cooperation of all stakeholders for enhancing road safety.