Union Minister Gadkari Slams India's Traffic Violations Despite Heavy Fines

Union roads & transport minister Nitin Gadkari voiced his frustration at rampant violations of traffic rules despite steep hikes in fines because people are not taking it seriously.

Gadkari pointed out that enforcement alone can't bring down crashes and fatalities, along with enforcement, there is a need for a behavioural change on the roads.

The government has implemented Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to help enforce traffic rules and increased fines under the Motor Vehicle Act amendment of 2019. However, these measures haven’t proven to be the deterrent they were expected to be.

While addressing the World Safety Conference, the Union Minister highlighted some statistics that paint a grim picture.

Road crash fatalities have increased by about 6% since 2019. From 1.59 lakh deaths in 2019, the number jumped to 1.68 lakh in 2022.

In 2022 alone, 50,029 people lost their lives simply because they weren’t wearing helmets.

He also flagged the problem of mixed traffic on Indian roads and lack of lane discipline.