Most drivers ignore seat belt alarms

Nimhans study says they hardly use child restraint accessories

In a City like Bangalore, while the vehicle numbers have gone up exponentially year after year, the safety measures taken by drivers to prevent road accidents have not improved, says a framework for action report released by Department of Epidemiology, NIMHANS along with WHO.

Not mandatory

An observational survey conducted by Nimhans at some petrol stations showed that only 27 per cent drivers wore seat belts. While the Indian Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 (amended in 2002) has seat belt laws, it does not make it mandatory for drivers to put child restraints when small children are travelling in the car. The report suggests legislation should be brought to make it compulsory too.

Wearing of helmets by two-wheeler riders is another cause of concern. The report highlighted that half of the riders did not wear full face helmets that would protect the head in case of a collision. With over 70 per cent of the vehicles on Indian roads being two-wheelers, the matter demands more attention. In Bangalore, mandatory wearing of helmet came into force in November 2006.

However, 11.5 per cent of the riders wore half face helmets, 32.9 half head helmets and mere 10 per cent pillion riders wore helmets at all. Interestingly, the fines collected by City traffic police for helmet rule violation has decreased since 2007 from Rs 2.3 lakh to Rs 36,019.

However, even traffic police  agree that many wear helmets just to avoid fine. So, while the knowledge about the benefit of wearing a helmet was high, it did not percolate to usage, the report said.

Data from Hyderabad and Pune too support these findings.

Reckless driving  

The other concerns which the report pointed out included reckless driving, visibility issues, alcohol use and poor availability of trauma care.

The traffic injuries and fatalities are up by 8-10 per cent year after year and the numbers are likely to reach significant proportions, the report said.

“In 2006, we estimated that India will lose about 1,35,000-1,50,000 persons due to road crashes by 2010 and this is almost true,” the report read. For 2015, the report predicted nearly two lakh road deaths on an annual basis.