You can remain oblivious of the most conspicuous facts that have a huge impact on your life and death and at the least your quality of life. You can call it your quality of death and if incapacitated you may end hanging in mid air. And this is not scare mongering. Now let’s come to the fact that might disturb you that India has the deadliest roads in the world. You see, experience and at times face its deadly impact, but the way we grow up, it has been normalised in our system. We don’t even give it a thought; the quality of the vehicle, the expertise of the driver, the quality of the road, the nature of traffic, the quality of traffic infra and all other ingredients which make the road ecosystem have a tremendous impact on your quality of travel.
Sub-standard human life is our destiny and it is amply manifested in the form of deadliest roads we possess and are forced to travel on. Our mind cannot respond or we are forced to take this in our stride as nothing is bound to change. The road revolution in India has been going through has in no way shown a downward trend in the death and injuries on the roads. We have simply copied road designs used in the US and Europe where the traffic environment is different. We are trying to build US style highway infrastructure but not investing in US style highway safety engineering research and crash data systems.
To drive home the gravity of the situation, a silent crisis, the 2023 data would be helpful. In 2023 alone more than 172,000 people lost lives on Indian roads averaging 474 deaths each day or nearly 1 every three minutes. It includes 10,000 children, accidents near schools and colleges accounted for another 10,000 fatalities, with 35,000 pedestrians losing their lives as well. Two-wheeler riders bore the brunt of fatalities. Over-speeding happens to be the single major cause of concern. 54,000 died for not wearing helmets and 16,000 for not wearing seatbelts, 12,000 because of overloading, 34,000 without valid driving licence. In 2021, 13% of accidents involved drivers with a learners permit or no valid licence.
We find basic safety features missing in a large number of vehicles, even seat belts leave aside airbags. Hazardous road environment is complicated by India’s chaotic traffic mix. Worst driving behaviour, enforcement gaps and systemic neglect rule the roost. Road crashes cost India 3% of its annual GDP. Poor civil engineering practices add to the mayhem, civil engineers being the biggest culprits. 59 major deficiencies have been reported in National Highways; crash barriers, metal barriers at wrong height, tall medians etc. “One key issue is that non-compliance with safety standards attract minimal penalties.”
CAN WE EVER PULL OUT INDIA FROM IT’S ROAD DEATH TRAP?
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening