Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said that road safety is a public health issue across the world and has become a challenge for all developing and low-income countries like India.

"It is, therefore, imperative to make our roads, vehicles, and infrastructure smarter to accommodate all its users, with safety as a top priority," he added.

Addressing the webinar on 'Role of Corporates in Arresting Road Fatalities', organized by FICCI, Mr Gadkari said that the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH)'s Road Safety Council will come into existence in the next 15 days or so as an independent body, which will make interactions between stakeholders of road safety and the government much easier.

"MoRTH is trying its best to reduce road accident deaths by restructuring and strengthening the 4-Es of road safety- Engineering, both road and automobile engineering; Enforcement towards making improved traffic systems, a law has been passed to that effect; Education and public awareness; and Emergency Care Services where cooperation between corporates, NGOs, governments is of utmost importance," said Gadkari.

Garkari further elaborated on the importance of the identification of black spots in every state, district, and city in helping reduce road accidents and fatalities.

"If corporates can independently conduct surveys to identify the reasons for accidents, many of the problem areas can be rectified. This will greatly contribute towards the vision of zero road accidents in India too," he noted.

The government system cannot solely change the challenges and issues that we face at the grassroots level for implementation. Corporates are well organized stakeholders and can hence play a vital role in sensitizing and educating their employees and the ecosystem, said Gadkari.

Lauding FICCI's various efforts on improving road safety in the country, the Minister added that awareness and education on road safety at all levels, stronger personal commitment, public-private collaboration, and continuous efforts will help in reducing accidents on Indian roads and improve road safety.

The FICCI Consortium on Road-Safety with corporates, SAFAR - Safer Actions for Accident Reduction, was announced at the event.

This consortium primarily focuses on a comprehensive approach to free India from all avoidable crashes, fatalities and serious injuries based on learnings from the Safe System Approach.

Similar strategies have helped countries like Sweden implementing many far-reaching and path-breaking decisions, on the path to zero road fatalities, including reassessing their priorities in transport planning and road design.

The initiative will focus on safe vehicles and safe infrastructure aspects of the road safety ecosystem.