Union minister Nitin Gadkari (File photo)

STOCKHOLM/ NEW DELHI: For Indian participants at the recent global summit on road safety in Stockholm , it was a shock when Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf said 16 children died in road crashes in his country last year and “16 was not zero”. Even as India reported 9,977 fatalities of persons below 18 years in 2018, which translates to 27 persons in this age group dying daily in road accidents, it has hardly got enough attention of government agencies.

The Indian delegation at the recently held 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety included road transport minister Nitin Gadkari , senior officials from transport and health ministries besides representatives from bodies in this sector.

Gadkari admitted that it was huge challenge for India to reduce road fatalities, considering that 11% of all deaths in road crashes were reported from India. “It’s a matter of huge concern that we continue to top the list of countries in road deaths. Countries which have reduced road deaths have focused primarily on two areas — road engineering and enforcement — and we need to address these issues rather than simply blaming drivers,” he told TOI.

Road safety activists who participated in the event said India can learn from Sweden , which has set a high standard and from Russia where road fatalities fell from 29,000 in 2011 to 19,000 in 2019 despite three-fold increase in number of vehicles.

