Road safety is a matter of grave concern and it continues to be a major killer, a public health concern and a leading cause of injury too across the world. According to the World Health Organization, at least one out of ten people killed on roads across the world is from India. This a major cause of worry for all, including the government. The cost of road accidents is borne not only by the victims and their family, but by the economy as a whole in terms of untimely deaths, injuries, disabilities and loss of potential income. Despite the continuing efforts of the Government in this regard and our commitments for halving fatalities, we have not been able to register significant progress on this front.
The WHO’s World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention lists Road Accidents as the third leading contributor to the global burden of disease, up from ninth position. India’s contribution in this regard is amongst the highest in the world with the country accounting for the second highest number of road accidents globally and the highest number of deaths.
During the year 2021, a total number of 4,12,432 road accidents had been reported in the country, claiming 1,53,972 lives and causing injuries to 3,84,448 persons. This data was shared in the Parliament recently by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.
He also informed that unfortunately, the worst affected age group in road accidents is between 18 and 45 years, which accounts for nearly 67 per cent of total accidental deaths. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been taking multiple initiatives including those related to vehicular and road engineering as well as educational measures for raising awareness in the field of road safety. The Ministry has been implementing the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act 2019, the long due amendment was done almost after 30 years to meet the need of the changing transport system and environmental scenario.
The government has also been working on identifying ‘black spots’ on National Highways and on short-term and long-term rectification of these black spots which are potential threats and can lead to accidents. The Ministry is also working to collect data on accidents through Integrated Road Accidents (iRAD)/e-Detailed Accidents Report (e-DAR) projects to provide a real-time causative analysis of road accidents in line with the international practices. The data would help the policy makers to put in place focused initiatives to address the menace of rising road accidents and resultant fatalities. All said and done, the work is being done to make the roads safer for the drivers, riders and pedestrians but ultimately all boils down to individuals who actually have to take precautions and follow the norms and the laws strictly.
It is startling to see that India has the second largest road network in the world with a total road length of approximately 62.1 lakh kilometres. This massive network serves as the nation’s lifeline transporting over 64.5 per cent of all goods within the country, in addition to being the preferred option for move of over 90 per cent of India’s passenger traffic. While roads remain synonymous with development and infrastructure growth in the country, they have also been a nemesis for users as several die on the road due to over-speeding, negligence and drunken driving.
Road accidents have become a leading cause for fatalities and injuries globally with India being the leading country in this regards. The huge loss of life and attendant economic losses are highly avoidable and require urgent measures to be adopted for effective mitigation. The Border Road Organisation, as a premier road construction agency, is responsible to ensure that road safety provisions on all its roads are made to international standards and are aligned towards not just reducing accidents but also preventing them altogether.
What is more important is that awareness must be spread and it should begin from school where the young minds can learn early on how to keep themselves safe on roads. In fact, they can also convey this to their parents and hence a curriculum should be added in every text book. For a small state like Goa, which sees frequent accidents, it could be easier to begin with. Also, a good amount of police personnel are required to manage this menace.
