The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has set a hard target to fix 9,000 accident-prone black spots on national highways (NHs) by March next year, said its secretary Anurag Jain on Wednesday.
About 4,000 black spots have been rectified in the last three years, said Jain.
“At present, more than 9,000 black spots have been identified…The ministry has set a challenging target of March 2025 to rectify all black spots in the country,” he said, reported PTI.
NHs’ stretches of about 500 metres where at least five accidents have taken place during three years, resulting in 10 fatalities, are designated as accident black spots.
Road safety audit of all national highways in India will be achieved soon and the ministry plans to achieve zero complaints for road maintenance, making all highways fully maintained by the authorities concerned, Jain further said.
For potholes and poor maintenance of roads, the linked authorities will be held responsible. These authorities will be accountable.
Across the nation very soon, MoRTH plans to introduce cashless medical treatment for all injured accident victims, the secretary said.
He was addressing an event organised by the International Road Federation. The president of IRF emeritus K K Kapila said promoting a safe transportation system needs a holistic approach including the engineering of roads, engineering of vehicles, enforcement, education, and emergency care.