Union Transport minister Nitin Gadkari has said, nearly 800 accident zones identified on national highways across the country, will be soon fixed to bring down road mishaps.

Inaugurating a two-day national workshop on Road Safety in Vishakapatnam, the minister said the black spots will be set right at a cost of Rs 11,000 crores. Mr.Gadkari said at least 1.5 lakh deaths occur per year due to road accidents in the country and this can be reduced by 50 per cent in near future in co-operation with all state transport ministers.

Expressing concern on increasing road accidents in the country, he said 70-80 per cent of mishaps occur due to road
engineering defects. The minister assured that the best of technology would be utilised to employ best engineering systems for road construction. He added that trauma care centres besides ambulance with necessary staff, will also be introduced at various points on national highways.

Transport ministers from 18 states and transport officials from Central and state governments besides World
Bank officials and foreign delegates, are attending theconference.