JOIN USIndia’s roads have remained death traps for the millions of people who use them. Newspapers every day have reports of major and minor accidents. There are very few people who cannot remember an accident involving a person known to them. Accidents have become so common that people forget that they should be rare. Statistics also prove personal experience. In 2009 about 1,27,000 people died in road accidents and this is the highest for any country in the world. The WHO has drawn attention to the high number of fatalities on Indian roads through its global status reports. China, which once had this dubious distinction, has now managed to bring down the number of accidents and deaths on the road. But the numbers are increasing in India every year. It is not only absolute numbers which are increasing. The number of deaths per lakh of population is 15 times more than that in developed countries.
The reasons are well-known. Wanton violation of traffic laws, drunken driving, lack of care in issuance of driving licences, refusal of many people to wear helmets and seat belts, poorly maintained or unlit roads, non-availability of immediate medical help and inadequacy of the public transport system. There are not enough traffic police men to regulate traffic in cities and towns. There is a need for better maintained roads to ease congestion, both in cities and the countryside that connects them. Accident rates are high both in cities and on national highways. With the vehicle population increasing and travel and goods transport set to grow, the risks are set to increase unless steps are taken to ensure greater safety on the roads.
Each of the factors contributing to the high number of accidents calls for actions of different kinds. The Centre has recently decided to ban movement of overloaded vehicles on highways in the entire country. There are many laws which are being violated with impunity and there is rampant corruption and collusion between authorities and the violators. The road sector needs immediate improvement and expansion. The public transport system should improve so that there will be less number of private vehicles on the road. Since road accidents are estimated to cost about 3 per cent of the country’s GDP and incalculable human cost, actions on all fronts to reduce them are urgently needed.