Road Safety in India is Worst, says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently released its global road safety findings. As per the data collected from nearly 99 per cent of the world's population from 182 countries, India has one of the worst road safety in the world. Only 28 countries, covering 7% of the world’s population, have comprehensive road safety laws on five key risk factors: drinking and driving, speeding, and failing to use motorcycle helmets, seat-belts, and child restraints.

Our country loses nearly one lakh lives out of the 1.24 million globally each year due to road accidnts. India is one of the ten countries included in the WHO Road Safety in a 10 countries project to be conducted over five years by a panel of 6 international partners. The WHO Road Safety commission aims to educate the masses through various slide shows and demostration to reduce accidents.

The aforementioned project is already being implemented in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab where bike riders without helmets are fined severely and a campaign against speeding has been raised. Ahembabad has been one of the cities to have been appreciated for the well managed Bus Rapid Tranist system (BRTS), which was opened in 2009, and currently covers 61 kilometres of network, carrying 1,40,000 passengers a day. A 16 km extension finalised in December 2012, and construction of a further 24km, are expected to push the number of passengers to 4 lakh a day. Since BRT's Opening, transport models have shifted away from private vehicles to the BRT system, while the project has also achieved its objective of providing a safe mode of transport, with more than a 50% decrease in road traffic fatalities in the BRT corridor.

WHO findings on global road safety

• Eighty-eight countries have reduced the number of deaths on their roads – but the total number of road traffic deaths remains unacceptably high at 1.24 million per year.

• Half of all road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Half of the world’s road traffic deaths occur among motorcyclists (23%), pedestrians (22%) and cyclists (5%) – i.e. “vulnerable road users” – with 31% of deaths among car occupants and the remaining 19% among unspecified road users.

• Only 59 countries, covering just 39% of the world’s population (2.67 billion people), have implemented an urban speed limit of 50 km/h or less and allow local authorities to reduce these limits.

• Strong drink–drive laws protect almost 70% of world’s population.

• Head injuries among motorcyclists are a growing concern. More effort is needed to promote helmet standards and quality.

• Seat-belts reduce the risk of a fatal injury by up to 50% for front seat occupants, and up to 75% for rear seat occupants.

• More than half of all countries have implemented a child restraint law, but these represent just 32% of the world’s population. The majority of high-income countries (88%) have child-restraint laws in place, while such laws are far less common in low- and middle-income countries (30% and 43%, respectively).

• Distracted driving is a serious and growing threat to road safety. There are different types of driver distraction, but use of mobile phones while driving is a primary concern. Evidences suggest that mobile phone use while driving is increasing rapidly, along with the exponetial growth in mobile phone use more generally.

• Public transport can make mobility safer and reduce congestion

Conclusion

This report shows that road traffic injuries remain a critical public health concern, as approximately 1.24 million deaths occurred on the world’s roads in 2010. However, it also illustrates the progress many countries have made to reduce road traffic deaths. This has occurred where political will has been translated into concerted and coordinated multisectoral actions that are based on evidence. But more action is needed, particularly in the following areas:

• The pace of legislative change is too slow

• Reducing road traffic deaths requires more consideration of the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists

• Enforcement of strong road safety laws is essential for success