Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (Solve problems relating to road safety) that was published in Newsband

Solve problems relating to road safety

Recently, the comedian of Bollywood Jaspal Bhatti died in a road accident. It is a thing of shame that India is considered as the nation with the world’s worst road safety record. Ten per cent of the world’s road accidents happen here and every hour, 15 deaths occur because of them. According to the World Health Organisation, India’s road traffic fatality rate is 16.8 deaths per 1,00,000 population, while it ranges from 5.2 in Japan to 13.6 in the US in comparative terms in the developed world.

Road deaths go on increasing day by day in India. Highways are become dangerous places. Heavy vehicles cause most of the accidents. The only way to minimize road accident is by letting someone drive a vehicle only after he or she is well trained. He or she should be literate enough in driving matter only after which he or she should be allowed to drive. The focus should be especially on drivers of heavy vehicles. Driving licenses should not be issued to a person who wishes to drive heavy vehicle till he is totally informed in the matter of driving on any road in India. This is because heavy vehicles account for 50-70 percent of fatal accidents in urban area.

It is not always vehicle drivers who are at fault. Many a time pedestrians meet with accidents owing to their own faults. Even pedestrians should be educated in the matter of how they can avoid meeting with an accident. They too should be well informed about the traffic rules. In fact, people should be taught about the right way to behave on the roads and avoid accidents in the process right from school days.

Government should ensure that roads are built with standard materials and they are well designed by an expert. Bad roads also lead to accidents. Defective signalling and lighting, poor signage and ineffective implementation of traffic rules all play a part. The pavement dwellers are most vulnerable when it comes to road accidents. Besides the pedestrians, cyclists and motor cyclists should also be told to be extremely careful while riding on the road. 

The UN General Assembly has rightly dedicated this decade to road safety considering the fact that this is the worst problem all over the world – not just in India. Our government should come up with a comprehensive road safety policy. Laws must be enforced on mandatory helmets and seatbelts, drunk driving and speeding, but road safety is also a larger governance issue.

People who cause accidents should be sternly dealt with in order to set an example to all the other vehicle drivers. Convictions for serious offences, as in the Nooriya Haveliwala case, must be routine and speedy. It is high time our government gave top priority to solving of problems relating to road safety.