New Delhi: No fewer than 6,358 ‘Black Corridors’ have been identified on India’s highways in the last three years, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
A ‘Black Corridor’ is defined as a 500-m stretch on a highway which has had five accidents, causing fatalities or grievous injury in the past three years, or 10 accidents that have caused deaths.
In a written reply to a question on highway safety asked by Biju Janata Dal’s Sasmit Patra, the minister said that three of the top five cities with the most such corridors are in Tamil Nadu, with the highest in Villupuram, with 70 corridors, followed by Pune Rural (60), Trichy (56), Purba Mednipur (52) and Cuddalore (49).
Tamil Nadu also tops the list of states with the highest number of road accidents and fatalities in India between 2020 and 2024, with 18,372 accidents in 2020 and 20,672 in 2024, a difference that highlights the growth rate.
Uttar Pradesh takes the second spot, with the number of accidents increasing from 13,695 in 2020 to 17,113 in 2024, while Madhya Pradesh reported an increase from 9,866 in 2020 to 13,937 in 2024.
Andhra Pradesh and Kerala also saw an increase in accidents, although their rise in numbers was lower than those of the top three states. Andhra Pradesh went from 7,167 accidents in 2020 to 8,258 in 2024, and Kerala from 6,594 in 2020 to 9,757 in 2024.
Despite the most accidents, Tamil Nadu has the second highest number of annual road accident deaths (6,376 in 2024). Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states with 9,560 road fatalities in 2024.
Manandeep Singh is an intern with ThePrint.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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