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More than 420 people lose their lives in road accidents everyday in India and the country now ranks third in the list of countries with the maximum instances of road accidents. As per the analysis of the National Crime Records Bureau Data for 2021 – 1,55,622 people were killed and 3,71,884 people were injured in 4,03,116 road crashes in India in 2021.
Though in the past few years, we have seen an increase in safety awareness, what is worrying is that the number of road crash fatalities increased by 16.8 percent to 1,55,622 in 2021 from 1,33,201 in 2020. The total number of road crashes has also seen a 13.6 percent increase between 2020 and 2021. Piyush Tewari, Founder & CEO at SaveLIFE Foundation says, “of course, there has been an increase and we have to develop all the efforts that are required to reduce these deaths. The recording of road crashes in the country has improved as a result of which we are seeing a slight rise in the number as compared to 2019.”
He believes one of the key reasons for the high instances of road accidents is that the “implementation of those laws meant to save lives has been quite poor at the end of state governments. In fact, there are many state governments that have not even fully notified the law.” Moreover, the “kind of actions are being taken on the ground and there we are seeing that the approach remains rather unscientific, the assumption is almost always that the driver is at fault,” he adds.
The National Crime Records Bureau Data indicates that the crash severity has increased from 37.5 in 2020 to 38.6 in 2021 and is the highest in the last two 3 decades. Tewari believes that this is the reason that they are recommending a scientific analysis of road crashes to understand what is causing the crash. He lists out a variety of causes like
- Road engineering/vehicular engineering
- Cause of injury in the accident- Vehicular interaction or road engineering
“So, understanding both what caused the crash and what caused the injury is the starting point of solving the problem which we don’t want happening at the ground level. So, if we address these two issues, that’s the only solution to drastically reducing deaths in the country,” he elaborates.
The question then is what kind of role can public awareness play in controlling the situation? Tewari points out that competent training needs to be the starting point. Just learning how to operate the vehicle is not adequate and one must learn to drive safely, “that training, and that upskilling is crucial. So I think that kind of education has been almost entirely missing.”
Optimise use of safety features
As a direct impact of campaigns like ‘Stop the Crash’ and GNCAP tests of Indian cars, OEMs have started enhancing the safety features in the cars. But Tewari points out that simply having a lot of safety features in the vehicle is not sufficient. The concern is that “they’re not being used to the optimum limit. So you think this is related to how we can make users take advantage of it or use them more frequently, to make travel a lot more safer experience.”
Citing an example to elaborate on the aspect of optimising safety features in the vehicle, Tewari explains how there is very little understanding amongst people about what happens if the seatbelt is not worn in the rear seats, “In case of a collision, the vehicle comes to a sudden halt, then everybody inside the vehicle goes flying out and an interaction with the interior of the vehicle can lead to serious injuries, or they might go and hit other passengers who might, who might very well be belted.”
He suggests that awareness campaigns, school and institution-based programs will have a key role to educate the public about what can potentially go wrong if one doesn’t comply with these basic safety standards.
Road design, a key aspect
In sync with increasing awareness and implementation levels, Tewari believes that road designs also play a key role in enhancing safety on the roads. “SaveLIFE Foundation has investigated that road design or infrastructure has played a role either in causing the crash or in aggravating the injury, or both. So it is absolutely paramount that road engineering standards be clearly defined and mandated for engineers and contractors to follow.”
Over the last five years, as part of the zero fatality corridor initiative, SaveLIFE Foundation has been making recommendations to the governments. He adds that fixing those issues have indeed “saved a countless number of lives on various highways. So it has a very direct impact in reducing crashes and injuries and has to be prioritized.” Tewari takes heart from the fact that “there is some level of political will now to address the engineering and design issues and we are hopeful that this percolates down to the ground and these issues are addressed.”
The 5Is of road safety
Outlining the need for a comprehensive and consistent effort to reduce road accidents, Tewari shares his 5-point mantra for India or the 5Is that can boost road safety-
- “The first and foremost is that states must Implement the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019.
- The second aspect is that engineering issues on our roads have been identified exclusively and they should be fixed.
- The third thing is that we have to ensure improvement in emergency care.
- The fourth aspect is increasing electronic enforcement in order to enhance the capacity to capture habitual offenders and violations
- Fifth is the need to initiate a public awareness campaign along the lines of the Swachh Bharat campaign.”
In his concluding remarks, he points out how appreciation for safety is missing in our country and believes that “right action comes after that. So, having structured data will really have an impact on the mindset of the people and impact on the lives that are otherwise lost to these crashes.”
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