Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressed "grave concern" on Sunday over a rising number of road accidents in the country and urged people to follow basic traffic rules.

He said these incidents are also leading to an increasing number of fatalities.

Birla pointed out that more than four lakh road accidents, with a cumulative death toll of over 1.5 lakh, are reported in the country every year.

If the number of road accidents annually is assessed economically, the loss would be equal to about one per cent of the GDP, he said. "Therefore, road accidents are a loss to the family, society and the country," the Lok Sabha Secretariat quoted Birla as saying in a statement.

The speaker made these remarks after flagging off a car rally at the Constitution Club here.

Besides members of Parliament, officers from defence and central police forces, eminent personalities from industry and people from different walks of life participated in the car rally.

The theme of this year's car rally was "road safety".

Birla lamented that while people are aware of traffic rules, including those related to walking, those are seldom followed.

Describing engineering, enforcement, education and emergency care as the four pillars of road safety, the speaker said while the government can frame rules, it is the citizenry that has to follow those.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.