India’s road deaths are not accidents — they are a public health crisis

 It’s time to stop labelling the thousands of deadly incidents that happen on India’s roads as “accidents.” Across India, the National Crime Records Bureau reported over four lakh road “accident” cases in 2021, with 1.6 lakh fatalities — up by four per cent from 2017. Despite the fact that each of these casualties leaves a human tragedy in its wake, society remains numb and unresponsive. The fact that road deaths are routinely labelled “accidents” contributes to public inaction against this preventable killer. It carries with it the connotation that they are unavoidable and an accepted cost of travel, wherein “accidents just happen”. But they do not “just happen”.

Fortunately, in December and September of 2022, the Maharashtra Highway Police and the Delhi Traffic Police both proved that change is possible and broke away from this practice. In its report, the Delhi Traffic Police noted that an “accident” is “an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause,” and as such, they will retire the word going forward when discussing road crashes. This change reflects a commitment to treat crashes not as inevitable but as preventable — thanks to evidence-based public health interventions, such as road redesign with all users in mind. Evidence from places with sterling road safety records shows that road deaths can be prevented by strong government action. This includes a comprehensive approach to road safety, including prioritising accessibility over mobility, and walking, cycling, and smart urban planning (such as public transport, crosswalks, and bike lanes) over high-speed driving and car dependency. In other words, low-cost, low-tech interventions can be adopted in every city and state, as long as there’s political will. By framing road crashes as “accidents,” people perceive crashes with less urgency and support for crucial interventions that can prevent crashes. Rightly using the term “crash”, is a commendable step by the Delhi Traffic Police, and it is hoped that others — spanning government agencies, media outlets, and the general public — will similarly follow suit.

In fact, this shift has happened before. We hear of “car accidents,” but when was the last time one heard of a “plane accident”? The term “plane accident” in the aviation industry is a misnomer but it wasn’t always so. The term was discarded in the first half of the 20th century as governments pressured the industry to improve safety. Investigators now work to determine the root causes of any aircraft crash, or even a near miss, and put in place more stringent safeguards to ensure that future events are prevented. Preventative actions such as safe infrastructure, professional management by highly trained and skilled staff, maintenance of all equipment, and strictly followed standard operating procedures all contribute toward making air travel the world’s safest form of transport per kilometre.

We need to adopt a similar approach to road travel. For example, thoughtful urban planning and safe road designs that encourage low speeds can reduce crashes. Communities that are walkable and bikeable, and less car-dependent have fewer deaths on the road. These are low-cost and straightforward interventions, and they can save lives today. Every road crash is preventable. Evidence-based interventions can radically decrease crash fatalities, and the language used to describe crashes is critical in building public demand and political will for these changes.

Written by Sudeep Lakhtakia , Grant Ennis

Lakhtakia is a retired Indian Police Service officer and currently Senior Road Safety Advisor-India, Vital Strategies.

Source: Indian Express, 16/01/23

Road accidents can be reduced

 

Public discourse, improving infrastructure can help

Fifty-one passengers of an overcrowded bus died in an accident on the morning of February 16 when it fell into a canal near Sarda Patan village in Sidhi district, Madhya Pradesh. A griha pravesh (house-warming) ceremony for the beneficiaries of one lakh houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Bhopal, which was to be attended virtually by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, was cancelled due to the incident. Two days earlier, fourteen persons were killed when a minivan they were travelling in hit a divider on a National Highway (NH) near Madarpur village in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. The van carrying 18 passengers was on its way to Ajmer in Rajasthan from Chittoor, when the driver lost control and hit the divider, tumbling on the other side of the road where a speeding truck crashed into it.

According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 1,51,113 persons were killed and 4,51,361 injured in road accidents across the country in 2019. NHs and State Highways, which account for about 5% of the total road length, claimed 61% of the deaths related to accidents. Around 35,606 deaths were reported on the NHs, which come under the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

Speaking at a webinar organised by the International Road Federation on February 9, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said India topped the fatality figures in road accidents in the world, with 415 deaths each day. While commending Tamil Nadu for taking effective road safety measures that had resulted in the reduction of road accidents by 38% and deaths by 54%, he asked other States to emulate Tamil Nadu.

It is small wonder that he actively pursued the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, with the well-intentioned motive of bringing down the death rate due to road accidents by 50% by 2020. This was agreed to by all participating nations in the United Nations Brasilia Declaration, of which India was a signatory. Though the number of deaths due to accidents declined to 1.20 lakh in 2020 due to COVID-19, Mr. Gadkari shifted the deadline to 2025.

But the steep hike in the fines imposed for traffic violations in the Act was met with stiff opposition, with some States dismissing it as too harsh and, hence, not willing to implement it. What seems to have been ignored while drafting the law was the fact that a good number of those driving vehicles to earn their livelihood were from economically poor backgrounds. West Bengal decided not to implement the new law and continued with the West Bengal Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.

The Madras High Court recently struck down the April 6, 2018 notification of the Union Government wherein the speed limit was hiked to 120 and 100 km/hour on expressways and highways, respectively. This was done as 66.7% of accidents was attributed to overspeeding in 2017, 55.73% in 2018 and 64.4% in 2019.

Studies carried out by various organisations have also come out with the causes for accidents and ways to curb them. The Accident Research Cell of the Delhi Traffic Police carried out an analysis of accidents and created a database that facilitates the formulation of policies to prevent accidents. While probing an accident that led to the death of former Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde in New Delhi, the cell concluded that hedges along a road obstructed the visibility of drivers coming from the other direction. After the hedges were pruned, the stretch became free from accidents.

While the strict enforcement of traffic safety laws would go a long way, educating citizens about the impact of accidents on the kin of the victims through public discourse could help in reducing accidents. Improving road infrastructure with coordinated efforts by the police and civic authorities, identification of black spots that are prone to accidents and deploying an adequate number of police personnel, particularly during peak hours, could bring down accident rates. Highway patrols with police personnel trained in first aid and ambulances every 10 km could also help save precious lives.

M.P. Nathanael is Inspector-General of Police (retd.),
Source: The Hindu, 7/10/21