VISAKHAPATNAM: There has been a marginal drop in road accident deaths in Andhra Pradesh in 2017 compared to 2016 according to the data provided by Union Minister for Transport Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to Visakhapatnam MP MVV Satyanarayana in Lok Sabha on Friday.
Gadkari said with 20,124 deaths, Uttar Pradesh has topped the list, while Tamil Nadu with 16,157 deaths is in the second place. Andhra Pradesh recorded 8,060 deaths as against 8,541 deaths in 2016 and it has stood seventh in the list. Telangana stood ninth with 6,596 deaths in 2017.
He said according to a report on ‘Road accidents in India’, road accidents occur due to reasons such as use of mobile phone, drunken driving, overloaded vehicle, poor light condition, jumping red light, over speeding, overtaking and weather conditions.
He said as part of the National Road Safety various measures such as promoting awareness, establishing road safety information data base, encouraging safer road infrastructure, enforcement of safety laws.
He said a District Road Safety Committee would be constituted in each district to promote awareness among road users.
Gadkari said it was proposed to set up model driving training institutes in States, sanction 22 inspection and certification centres for testing fitness of the commercial vehicles through an automated system.
A mobile App for highway users ‘Sukhad Yatra 1033’, which will enable highway users to report potholes and other safety hazards on national highways.
Gadkari said the high priority has been accorded to identification and rectification of black spots on national highways.