New Delhi: The Central government is committed to bringing down the road fatalities and injuries, and has taken a series of steps to reduce these numbers, said Gaurav Gupta, Director, Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, here on Thursday.

Speaking at a panel discussion organized in association with FICCI from 11-17 January 2023, Gupta said: “The Ministry is highly committed to bring down road fatalities by taking organized steps which include rectification of accident black for improved road engineering, training of drivers, awareness generation campaigns to name a few.”

He added that road fatalities not only lead to significant human sufferings, but also drain the GDP of the country by claiming lakhs of economically productive young lives. “Ministry along with all the stakeholders is putting forth efforts for making roads and vehicles as safe as possible. To achieve the desired target, a complete paradigm shift in the behavior of road users is necessary,” added he.

Ravi Prasad Nimmalapudi, Director, Quality, Safety and Environment, Coca Cola, said, “Safety is a science and we need to bring in the data and data mining to bring road safety to the forefront.” Abhilash Verma, High Risk Transport Lead, Shell India said, “Creating safe road ecosystem can be the one big solution and it can only happen through collaboration.”

Dr Bipin Kumar Rai, Head – ESH, Continental India said, “Safety curriculum needs to be imbibed at early days of the education system & childcare.” Tejal Tyagi, Head Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) - South Asia, Unilever, said: “This is the time for action with collective effort to make roads safer.” /BI/