Is the government reluctant to ensure better road safety for its citizens?

With the monsoon session of Parliament scheduled for the 21st of this month, road safety activists in the country have begun a push towards demanding more stringent legislation for automobiles, roads and highways, to ensure better safety for all road users. This is not a small concern – India has one of the highest road traffic accident rates in the world, its roads are some of the world’s most deadly, and every three minutes in our country, there is a death due to a road accident.

According to Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari, every year India sees 4,80,000 accidents, which lead to 1,88,000 deaths of people aged between 18 and 45 years. Additionally, there are 10,000 deaths of children. The country loses 3% of its GDP annually, due to road accidents.

Why are our roads so unsafe? Do the problems lie with road design, behaviour on the roads, a lack of implementation of laws or a combination of all these factors and more? Is the government reluctant to ensure better road safety for its citizens?

Guest: Ranjit Gadgil, programme director, Parisar, which is part of the Road Safety Network, an Indian coalition of organisations working to improve road safety in the country

Host: Zubeda Hamid

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