Union Minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said that every year, around 1.5 lakh people killed in 5 lakh accidents that take place across the country.

While speaking in Nagpur at a Road Safety Week function, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that five lakh accidents took place in the country every year and around 1.5 lakh people were killed. He also said that around 2.5-3 lakh people sustained injuries in these accidents. "62 percent of those killed in road accidents were in the 18-35 group," he further added.

Gadkari lamented that his Ministry could not reduce the number of accidents despite putting in a lot of effort. The Ministry praised Tamil Nadu for bringing down the number of road accidents by 29% and fatalities 30%.

He said awareness and adherence to traffic rules among people, andunited efforts by police, RTOs, NGOs among others were key to reducing road accidents.