New Delhi, 22 December 2007

Increasing Road Fatalities

URGENT REMEDIAL MEASURES NEEDED

By Radhakrishna Rao

Among the long list of dubious distinctions India is known for, road accidents and the consequent casualties occupy a prominent position. Shockingly, India has the second highest road accidents tally in the world. With over 96,000 people killed on the roads in 2005, India could overtake China as the country with the highest incidence of road accidents and fatalities, once the figures for 2006 become available.

In fact, with an increasing number of all types of vehicles crowding the already over-crowded and poorly made roads, the number of accidents per lakh of population in the country has gone up from 38.1 per cent in 1995 to 39.9 per cent in 2005.

Unfortunately, while most countries regularly undertake extensive research work on road safety measures, the last research on road accidents in the country was carried out in 1995. Not surprisingly then the number of road accidents is three times higher than those prevailing in developed countries. Moreover, along with industrial fatalities, road accidents have become the third largest killer in the country, after heart diseases and cancer.

The Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, K.H.Muniyappa, recently pointed out, “The maximum number of accidents, especially those fatal, take place on the straight stretches of highways due to high speed. Not only that. The express highways have become the most accident prone part of the road network in India.”

Among these, the four-arm junctions were the most accident prone, the pedestrians were the most vulnerable and the trucks were involved in most night accidents. Negligence and over-speeding were found to be the cause of 90 per cent of the accidents, states a study carried out by the Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Ministry.

On the other hand, studies carried out at the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) showed that more than two-third of the accidents occurred on the roads of big cities in the country. In many cases, the major accidents invariably involved pedestrians.

For instance, in Bangalore, indisciplined pedestrians were responsible for a large percentage of the accidents. On the other hand, a study of the high-accident frequency locations in the Capital, New Delhi showed that at these locations, 88 per cent of the fatal and severe injury occurred due to a driving error.

Other major causes of road accidents in the country were poorly maintained roads, defective vehicles and an unpleasant environment. Besides,  not only was the accident rate quite high but also the resulting damage to people, especially fatalities, when compared with the figures from other countries.

The population congestion, the concentration of industries and work-spots, the increasing vehicular density and the erratic pedestrian movement all conspired to make India a highly accident-prone country.

Significantly, in sharp contrast, China had succeeded in bringing down the rate of fatalities due to accidents. From 4,50,254 road accidents and 98,738 people killed in 2005 to 3,78,781 accidents with a death tally of 89,455 in 2006. A drop of 15.9 per cent in the number of accidents and 94 per cent in fatalities.

Interestingly, the number of road accidents in China has dropped by an annual average of 10.8 per cent for four consecutive years since 2003. Notwithstanding, a rapid growth in the number of vehicles. However, India is expected to notch up one lakh plus road accident deaths for 2006 alone!

Incidentally, road deaths and injury are considered the world’s most neglected public health problem. The world over, around 1.2 million people succumb to road accidents. This figure is equivalent to those killed by malaria and tuberculosis. It has been observed that the poor get hurt more often than the rich, as they walk, cycle or travel in over-loaded buses.

A World Bank study states that by 2020, death from road accidents are expected to come down by 28 per cent in the rich nations but would go up by a substantial extent in the poorer countries. As it stands, the Global Road Safety Partnership has emphasized better training for drivers and better safety education for children.

The grim ground reality is that in India there is little regulation of people, vehicles and stray animals on the roads network of the country. The complex network of over 3 million kms, which forms India’s communications lifeline, has fast moving vehicles, animal-drawn carts, children at play, footpath vendors as well as pedestrians.

Moreover, a majority of the road accident victims are from the lower income strata and have little access to immediate and proper medical care. Of course, many NGOs have introduced emergency ambulance services to attend to the accident victims in various Indian cities.

Clearly, the main culprit for the growing incidents of road accidents and fatalities is none other than the poor road infrastructure. Besides, of course, non-functioning road signals, fallen trees and mechanical failures. Compounding the problem is the fast-expanding cash rich middle class which has created a huge demand for motor vehicles. With the result that narrow and poorly built roads succumb under the relentless pressure of automobile explosion.

In the ultimate analysis, road accidents can either be minimized or prevented. Through well thought measures such as monitoring of the vehicle speed, promoting the use of seat belts, obviating alcohol consumption by drivers, ensuring increased visibility on the roads with stationary vehicles. As also, by improving the configuration and maintenance of the roads and by strict implementation of the traffic rules and regulations. --- INFA

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)