The resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly urging all nations to launch a decade of action on road safety from 2011 resonates with India's vulnerable road users. The Global Status Report on Road Safety, published by the World Health Organisation in 2009, reveals that the country leads a group of 10 countries with an appalling record. This small group records over 60 per cent of the 1.3 million road accident deaths reported worldwide. In India, death and disability from accidents have been rising steadily in tandem with motorisation; and the majority of victims are pedestrians, cyclists, and two-wheeler riders. The magnitude of the problem is clear from the report of the Sundar Committee of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways released three years ago. The failure of governments to act in the face of its findings is responsible for the loss of about 100,000 lives each year. The burden of injuries is no less staggering. Even with under-reporting, the number of people injured is five times the number of deaths. Research studies indicate that the actual figure could be 15 times more. Yet very little has been done to implement the road map for safety drawn up by the Ministry's expert committee.
The U.N. resolution urging decade-long efforts should spur the Indian government to end the carnage on the roads. Action in key areas can achieve quick results. These include building better roads, curbing drunk driving, enforcing compulsory use of helmets and seat belts, and strict norms for use of cell phones while driving. Such interventions produce effective outcomes and the central and state governments must accord them high priority. A sizable part of the funds allocated for road safety during the 10th Plan period, and the first three years of the 11th Plan, remained unspent. This is partly because many States have not met mandatory norms for utilisation. The funds, running into several crores of rupees a year, could have financed safety infrastructure, driver training, and modernisation. The hope is that the Road Safety Bill, which is expected to be introduced in Parliament during the current session, will address several long-pending issues. This law must not stop with creating the anticipated National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board, but compel state agencies to become accountable in the areas of infrastructure and enforcement. Meanwhile, there are simple ways of protecting people on the roads. A good start can be made in metropolitan and urban India by investing in pedestrian infrastructure, traffic calming, and public transport. It has been established that such measures lower accident risk dramatically.
Keywords: road safety, United Nations General Assembly, resolution, Global Status Report on Road Safety, World Health Organisation, motorisation, pedestrians, Road Safety Bill
Road safety is largely a myth, actually roads are safe - The real problem is automobile danger and the danger which automobiles impose upon the public domain. Yet the agenda of the road safety industry protects and promotes the dominance of the automobile. This is not an accident, the road safety industry is effectively controlled by the auto industry. I challenge anyone to find within the myth of road safety the provision of safe places for cyclists, pedestrians or for that matter children at play. “Better roads” translates to faster roads for cars and the removal of everyone else, just as driver training translates to transferring responsibility away from the car itself.
It is the basic duty of Government to provide sound infrastructure to the country. In my personal opinion, better condition of roads, vehicles, and good state of mind of drivers definity curtail atleast 70 per cent of accidents.
many accidents happen each year due to lack of road safety measures. each year almost 100,000 people die do it.we should take necessary steps to curb this.road safety law should measures should be passed as soon as possible.various instructions shoulb be given to common people like wearing helmet during driving,not drive after having drunk,use road safety signals given on road. government should ensure our safety by building better roads and passing laws.the funds for road safety should be used in the right direction.they are meant for our safety.
When a couple of hundred or even less number of people are killed in a terrorist attack or as a result of Maoist violence, the whole country is shocked and Indian media talks only about it for days together thereafter. But one did not know before reading the editorial that a lakh of lives are lost every year on Indian roads due to road accidents. But such news does not shock the country since a dramatic element is missing in it. With the number of vehicles on the road increasing exponentialy and respect for law dwindling as the GDP soars, road accidents are likely to increase further. But will the powers that be worry much about it? Not likely, says past experience. Will the opinion makers wake up to this alarming possibility? One hopes they will.
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