ROAD
ACCIDENTS – GOVERNANCE
News:
53 accidents, 19 deaths
per hour in road crashes in 2022: Road Transport Ministry
What's
in the news?
●
The expansion of the country’s road
network, including expressways and an increase in vehicle ownership continue to
spur a rise in fatalities due to road accidents, with the severity of crashes
worsening significantly over the last decade, according to government data.
Key
takeaways:
●
The severity of road crashes, measured by
the number of people killed per 100 accidents, has increased over the past
decade from 28.2% in 2012 to 36.5% in 2022, spiking above 37% during the
pandemic.
India's
road density:
●
India’s
road density at 1890.75 per 1000 sq.km of area in 2017-18 was higher than that
of many developed countries though surface/paved road
constituting 64.6 vehicles per kilometre of road length has increased from 28
vehicles in 2010 to 46 in 2020.
●
This is indicative of the growing road
traffic congestion in the country.
Reason
for the poor road safety record in India:
1.
Human errors:
●
Reluctance
of the Indians in wearing helmets, seat belts and other road safety equipment.
●
Usage of mobile phones while driving as we are seeing often during our
travels.
●
Consumption of alcohol (Drunk and drive).
●
Rash
driving by youngsters in the name of enjoyment.
●
Lack
of awareness of traffic and road safety rules.
●
Restlessness
of the drivers especially cab drivers.
●
Lack of behavioural change in adapting to
the modern traffic laws.
2.
Issues of Indian Roads:
●
Lack
of standardized road infrastructure.
●
Presence of many black spots.
●
Lack of enough gaps in the median on the
national highways, untreated intersections and missing crash barriers.
●
No warning symbols placed on many potholes
caused by rains causing accidents.
●
Uneven
road surface because of lack of transparency and accountability
from the highway department and road workers.
●
Lack of planning to control congestion and
traffic causing more time and making users to rash drive in a short period of
time.
3.
Issues in the side of vehicle manufacturers:
●
Lack
of vehicle safety standards.
●
Making cars without airbags to target the
consumption market rather than their safety.
●
Boom in the automobile sector and the
parallel rise of the Indian middle class has increased the volume of vehicles
on the road.
●
In a way, road safety is a function of
income growth in a country as the manufacturers provide more safety provisions
to high-end consumers and leave out the middle-class sections.
4.
Weak law enforcement:
●
Lack of stronger laws in punishing the
violators.
●
Lower
conviction rate due to the corruption in traffic administration.
●
Negligence of the authorities in checking
the conditions of vehicles most number of times.
●
Lack of rapid trauma care on highways and
reluctance to treat by majority of the doctors despite being a law in place.
Impacts
of road accidents:
1.
Human losses - We lose about 1,50,000 people due to
road accidents and about 60% of those deaths are in the 18-24 age group, which
is a big loss and causes a higher fatality rate.
2.
Economic losses - The road accidents causing loss to 3 percent of India's GDP due to the
loss of demographic dividend and human capital in productive sectors.
3.
Social losses - Job losses and related financial
hardships, loss of amenity causing a fatal impact on the functioning of the
whole family. About 40% of women reported a change in their working patterns
post-accident (as the productive member of their family got affected).
4.
Psychological impact - Those who suffered major injuries
during accidents got suffered from both physical and mental trauma affecting
their mental health and confidence.
Initiatives
for road safety:
1.
Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety:
●
India agreed ways to halve the number of
global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents - a key milestone within
the new Sustainable Development Goal
(SDG) target 3.6.
2.
Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030:
●
It sets an ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic
deaths and injuries by 2030.
3.
Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019:
●
The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019
was brought in to improve road safety in India by amending Motor Vehicles Act,
1988. The amendment Act has introduced heavy fines for various offences.
4.
3-Year Action Agenda of NITI Aayog:
●
Highlighting the standardizing the
reporting of accidents & action map thereafter.
5.
State Citizen Service Portals and e-FIR:
●
Through their State Citizen Service
Portals, five states/UTs, namely Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and
Uttar Pradesh, have made it possible to file an e-FIR for reports of theft of
vehicles, mobile phones, and documents where the accused is unknown.
6.
Bharatmala Pariyojana:
●
It is a new umbrella program aimed at
improving the efficiency of the freight and passenger movement across the
country by filling essential infrastructure gaps.
7.
Vehicle Disposal Policy:
●
Older automobiles pollute the environment
10 to 12 times more than newer vehicles and pose risk to road safety.
8.
Delhi Government’s “Good Samaritans” Policy:
●
Monetary incentive of Rs 2,000 and
appreciation certificate will be given to people who help road accident victims
in the national capital.
9.
The Foundation’s Zero-Fatality Corridor (ZFC) programme:
●
It was deployed on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in 2016, helping
bring down road crash fatalities by 52%, as of 2020.
●
Similar interventions were introduced in
2018 on the Old Mumbai-Pune Highway and helped reduce the road crash fatalities
on this stretch by 61%, as of 2021.
WAY
FORWARD:
●
Countries should form transport policies
in order to favour more sustainable
modes of transport such as walking, cycling and using public transport.
●
Ensuring the safety of all road users by
improving laws and enforcement and making roads safer through infrastructural modifications such as
raised platforms and safety humps, roundabouts, and optical markings are
adopted to reduce road accidents.
●
The vehicle manufacturers need to equip life saving technologies in the
communitarian vehicles. They also need to ensure vehicular safety standards
such as mandatory car crash standards and anti-locking brake systems on heavy
vehicles.
●
The government and the medical systems
need to enhance emergency trauma care
systems to save human lives. In a way, the need to deploy quick response
ambulances every 50 km on National Highways by the National Highway Authority
of India.
●
Public
campaign for road safety through electronic and print media.
●
Identification
of black spots and accident-prone areas and rectifying
them by the adoption of correct means.
●
Improving road accident data collection
and proper database management and
carrying out road safety audits.
●
Underage drivers should be treated with
zero tolerance. In India, strong punishments for violations should be
considered and cumulative penalties for recurrent infringement should result in
temporary license suspension or a permanent ban on driving.
In a way, to ensures road
safety, need for multi-pronged strategy in India based on the 4 “E’s i.e. Education (promoting
awareness), Engineering (safer road and vehicle infrastructure, including the
application of smart transportation), Enforcement of safety laws and Emergency
care including trauma care.