BIJOY KUMAR Y

Bijoy takes up the important subject of road safety this month

We managed to kill 1.6 lakh people in 2022 in road accidents and injure 4.4 lakh

HIGH SPEED MOBILITY, WHETHER IT BE BY road, water, air or rail has become the indicator of progress in nations across the world. It takes a bit of time for the people who belonged to an underdeveloped nation not so long ago, to take cognizance of the occasion and literally come up to speed with the change. Going by the sheer number of people they handle everyday... trains, planes and to a much lesser extent boats are safer than going from A to B by road. As car and two-wheeler sales go through the roof and road infrastructure struggles to keep pace – India is killing many more people than the Ukraine-Russia war and Israel-Hamas bloodshed in the strip. Every year!

I hate doing this but I do go through the statistics every time it is made available. According to the latest MoRTH report we managed to kill 1.6 lakh people in 2022 in road accidents and injure 4.4 lakh. Of these, 32 per cent of fatalities happened on national highways while the figure is much lower on state highways and other roads. This points at the fact that faster vehicle movement is causing more accidents and deaths. That said there are more accidents happening in rural areas – with highways by-passing cities across the country – it had to be, right?

Mind you, what follows is not authoritative research, but just my findings and I have given my own solutions and suggestions. You don’t need to be a statistics whiz-kid to figure out the most common reasons and the pattern that is emerging.

Rear ending a parked truck

To begin with the truck is not supposed to be stopped on a fast highway or expressway. Most of the time these trucks are parked on the left-most lane of the road. Speeding SUVs and cars brimming with people and a sleepy driver stands no chance as they ram into the truck – which he thought was moving (if he wasn’t sleeping that is...).

What can be done: Parking by the side of the highway/expressway should attract a huge fine, say `20,000, unless the driver had no other option but to park due to mechanical trouble. A mandatory walk around the truck by inspectors before trucks are let loose on the highways can reveal the road worthiness of the truck to some extent. Especially the condition of the tyres.

Two-wheeler menace

Two-wheelers took more life according to the study. Not at all surprising since India makes the most number of two-wheelers. The bus and truck drivers cannot see a two-wheeler treading between their vehicle and the foot path. In a nano-second the scooter (smaller wheel more susceptible to falling) or the motorcycle rider falls and is run over. Allowing dumper trucks to ply on city roads is a major reason for the truck/bus vs two-wheeler incidents. Even now not all states in our country require pillions to wear helmets.

What can be done: Impounding the offending two-wheelers and a minimum `10,000 fine to get the vehicle released. And a visit to the nearest casualty wing of a hospital to show what they will have to go through if they are involved in an accident – and survive. Immediate legislation to make wearing helmets mandatory for pillion riders as well as kids.

Buses and trucks carrying people falling off the roads in mountainous terrain is normal one-column fare in MP and UP. Reason? Once a bus goes down, 20-40 people perish. Terrible weather conditions, pathetic upkeep of the roads, ill-maintained and overloaded vehicles are the main reasons for this state of affairs.

What can be done: Lack of crash barriers (amco barriers) that will stop the bus/ truck from going off the road are lacking in many parts of the road networks in our mountainous states. While the BRO maintained roads are good, we need the support of the private sector for installing these crash barriers at least on dangerous spots. For example: Road maintained by Tata Motors/Maruti/Mahindra.

Drunken driving

This is a menace not just on city streets but even rural areas crisscrossed by fast highways. What can be done: Heavy fines ranging from `10,000-20,000, a jail/reform centre term and revoking the driving license can work in cities but not so much in rural areas. How can you fine the elderly moped rider high on local arrack and putting his life and that of others in danger while riding on the wrong side of the road?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. But we do have to begin somewhere, right?