'400 die daily in road crashes'

New Delhi: In order to curb road crashes, which kill over 400 people every day -- nearly half of them in the 18-35 age group, the states should utilise a portion of the central road fund (CRF) to fix "accidental spots", Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.

Releasing the 'Road Accidents in India - 2016' report, the Road Transport and Highways Minister said while overall road accidents last year declined by 4.1 per cent, the fatalities were up by 3.2 per cent, meaning more than 400 people lost their lives daily on roads.

The report mentioned that as many as 17 people died in 55 road accidents per hour on average last year, with 46.3 per cent of them in the 18-35 age group.

The working age group of 18-60 years constituted 83.3 per cent in the total road accident fatalities, it added.

Overall, 4,80,652 road accidents took place in India last year resulting in the loss of 1,50,785 lives and inflicting serious injuries on 4,94,624 persons.

"We are working to reduce fatalities not only on National Highways but on state highways and district roads as well. I have asked all state governments to utilise 10 per cent of the CRF in addressing flaws at accidental spots," Gadkari said.

Besides, Road Safety Committees should be constituted in districts, headed by senior most MPs with Deputy Collector as Secretary, and they will look into all aspects of accidents at that level, he said.

The minister said the target is to reduce the fatalities by 50 per cent in next two years.