Gen (Dr) Retd VK Singh, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Civil Aviation today said that the government is taking a series of steps to reduce the number of road accidents in the country. The government is working on placing ambulances at various highway tolls to provide emergency care. “We are trying to create helipads in each one of our wayside amenities that are coming up along the expressways. It will have a helipad facility and hospitals can set up trauma centers at these locations,” he added.

Addressing the conference on ‘Role of Corporates in Road Safety 2022’, organized by FICCI, Gen (Dr) Singh stated that at present the government has placed ambulances at each toll plazas on highways but there is still more which needs to be done in this area.

“This is one area where corporates play an important role to find more solutions so that we can save more lives. 11 percent of world accidents happen in India and we need to work to bring down the number of road accidents to 2 lakhs per year from the current 5 lakhs. This can be rectified and brought down if all stakeholders work together,” he stated.

The Minister also shared that most road accidents happen because of the fault of others and there is, despite all the efforts made, very less enforcement of the awareness on road safety. “We all need to come together including the government, corporates, and NGOs to increase the awareness,” he added.

Mr. Singh highlighted that the government has taken a series of steps which includes adopting international standards for airbags used in cars. “We recently have issued a notification that just two airbags will not suffice and there has to be six. The auto companies need to follow the same standards as the rest of the world follows. Life is not cheap in India,” asserted the Minister.

Mr. Singh further emphasized the need to create an eco-system for safety, and this includes the transport sector, drivers, driving schools, etc. “We have mandated that good driving schools should come up in each state and especially in areas which are in the backward region. These schools will be equipped with all modern gadgets so that it also creates job opportunities in the area. We are providing financial assistance in setting up the schools and efforts are to reduce the number of road accidents,” he highlighted.

The Minister also conferred the FICCI Road Safety Awards to leading corporates on various initiatives taken for road safety.

Mr. GK Pillai, Advisor, FICCI Homeland Security Committee, and Former Union Home Secretary said that corporates, in the next 5-6 years should adopt road safety as the top of their agenda. “What we have realized in the last two years is that almost 50 percent of accidents can be avoided if there are good roads. Just good roads along with the safety features will reduce the fatalities,” he added.

Mr. Ramashankar Pandey, chairman of, the FICCI Road Safety Sub-Committee and MD, Hella India said that safety is a serious business, and we have to start prioritizing emergency care to reduce the number of road accidents. “More than 90 percent of road accidents can be avoided if the drivers are educated. Now is the time to come together and make road safety a national movement,” he added.

Mr. Arun Chawla, Director General, FICCI said 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. FICCI will continue to work with the government and industry in reducing road accidents to steer the country towards safer roads and better infrastructure, he added.