Securing Road Safety

In Context

• Road safety is an important issue that needs to be tackled as the number of lives lost to road accidents per year is worrisome and the issue has not yet occupied the public’s imagination.

About

• India’s socio-economic cost of road traffic accidents for the year 2019 was in the range of $15.71 billion to $38.81 billion, which amount to 0.55–1.35% of the GDP
• Though India accounts for about 1% of motor vehicles globally, it records more than 11% of road traffic deaths.
• Around 150,000 individuals lose life every year in India due to road accidents.

Reasons for Road Accidents

• Over speeding and dangerous driving:

• More than half of 50000 accidents in India are on account of over speeding and a quarter due to dangerous driving. 

• Faulty road designs:

• India is yet to universally benchmark its road design as per global standards. In addition to reckless driving, a large number of road accidents are attributable to faulty road designs.

• Ineffective and inefficient road regulations:

• There are a large number of deaths because of lack of caution signs, big potholes, illegal speed breakers.

• Encroachment of road:

• Unruly road congestion caused by hawkers occupying the roads, taxis and auto rickshaw stands or bus corridors crowded by normal vehicles.

• Lack of discipline:

• Undisciplined driving involves not giving indicators, parking in non-parking zones which limits the passage of the motorable road.

• Laxity in driving license regulations:

• The skill sets of the drivers on Indian roads are often not adequate primarily due to lax procedure in obtaining a driving license. 
• There are ways to bypass the driving tests through bribing clerical staff or obtaining a license through a tout.

• Inefficient public transport:

• The paucity of end to end public transport and its inefficiencies in India leads to the public opting for private vehicles. This causes congestion and an increase in unruly driving.

Measure to prevent road accidents

• Effective interventions and enhanced enforcements:

• Proactiveness of traffic police on black spots, traffic calming measures, enhanced enforcement, enforcing lane discipline can significantly reduce the number of accidents.

• Reorienting the public psyche:

• Harsh penalties should be enforced on violators of the traffic rules. It will, in the long run, nudge the road users to toe the line thus keeping the roads safe, primarily for the pedestrians.

• Robust driving license regulations:

• Making the driving tests more stringent and also incorporating the automated test centers can reduce human discretion to a great extent.
• In addition, mandatory simulator tests along with psychological evaluation can be incorporated in the regulatory framework primarily for drivers of heavy transport vehicles.

• Road designs aligned with global safety standards:

• Remodeling the roads and safe road design should be brought into practice to accommodate all users safely. Buses and heavy vehicles should have dedicated corridors with designated bus stops. 

• Increased synergy of stakeholders:

• Traffic police, municipal officials and Public Works Departments should work in synergy to optimize the resultant output, namely, secured roads for users.
• This will  free passage in the bus lane, which people tend to clutter by parking their vehicles, taxis and street vendors occupying the lanes.

• Use of ICT, Artificial Intelligence and modern technology:

• Speeding cameras installed across the city, with the automatic number plate recognition system can go a long way in deterring traffic rules violation. 
• Other technological tools and artificial intelligence measures would introduce necessary deterrence for the repeated offenders.

• Enlarged and efficient public transport:

• Introducing Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions, which integrate all options of public mobility on a common digital platform can further help in securing the goal of road safety.
• A commuter could then choose a bus, metro, a cab or an auto.  
• Government-backed digital aggregator of all mobility options would make public transport more efficient and provide inbuilt solutions for last-mile and first-mile connectivity.

Way Forward

• The responsibility of a disciplined traffic on roads lies as much on citizens as it does on the government.  Hence it should be a two pronged process whereby both should strive for a collective goal of securing safe roads.
• Road safety is an issue of universal concern and it should capture the imagination of every citizen right from the very beginning. School curriculum should incorporate ‘golden rules for roads’ so as to nudge people right before the children obtain their driving licenses.
• Streamlining and discipline traffic on roads is a herculean task and requires behavioural change at the society level. All the stakeholders; government, road users, traffic police, municipal corporations, PWDs should synergise their efforts to ensure road safety.