The Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari said that the government is committed to reduce the number of road accidents by 50 per cent in the next two years and is employing various measures to achieve this objective. These measures are geared to tackle the problem through a multi-pronged strategy which include effective road engineering solutions at the design stage, rectification of accident black spots, improvement in automobile engineering, driver education, revision and effective enforcement of laws. The minister was speaking at the one day national level workshop on Road Safety Engineering Measures organised by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways in New Delhi. Speaking about the importance of road engineering in preventing accidents and the resultant loss of lives, he said that simple and well thought out designs like the height of road dividers, placement of over-bridges and underpasses at appropriate places or the placement and design of speed breakers can often be very effective in ensuring safety on roads.