At the Snapdragon Auto Day event presented by Times Network in New Delhi, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that India is taking serious action to make its roads safer. The government has already identified accident-prone zones, or ‘black spots’, across the country, and has allocated Rs 40,000 crore to fix them.

IIT students are also being brought in to audit highways, while 77 deadly stretches in 15 states have been marked under the Zero Fatality Corridor Initiative. Work has already started to bring down fatal accidents in these zones.

Gadkari also added that technology, engineering, and awareness together will be the pillars of India’s road safety mission.

According to the minister, the government has pinpointed over 100 districts in India that report the highest number of road accidents. Most of these fatal zones fall along national highways, state highways, and municipal roads — many of which were never originally designed for today’s traffic loads