Government of India is planning to roll out its vehicle safety standards, mirroring similar programmes globally, to improve road and vehicle safety in the country that has one of the world’s worst road safety records.
- According to the Union Road Transport Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari, the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) will look at the safety of new vehicles and assign star ratings on their safety and sturdiness, in line with Global NCAP and European NCAP car safety programmes .
- The government would make it mandatory for all new vehicles that can carry up to eight passengers to have at least six airbags. This will comprise side curtain airbags in addition to the current two front airbags.
- Other features such as a three-point seat belt and automatic emergency braking system (AEBS) will also be made mandatory for new passenger vehicles.
- He said that around 150,000 road accidents occur every year, causing a 3.1% loss to the country’s GDP.
- The government aims to halve the number of road accidents by 2025.
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