New Delhi, May 27 -- With over 20 people dying every hour on India's roads, the Centre has moved to fast-track an urgent audit of the country's most dangerous highway stretches, known as accident-prone black spots, by mid-July. These are typically road stretches that have seen a defined number of crashes or fatalities over a three-year period, as per ministry norms.

Independent consultants and specialised agencies have been invited to conduct state-wise audits across India's 146,195-km national highway network, two officials familiar with the matter said.

The aim is to identify high-risk zones where safety measures have not been implemented, and to detect any new developments that have made stretches more dangerous, they said.

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