Precarious Lives
Apart from the crushing emotional loss, the financial impact of a road crash on the lives of victim families can be severe. For low-income households, it can thrust on them another kind of battle for survival. Even when crash victims survive, they often have to contend with loss of employment and income, decline in productivity and other lost opportunities. One of the key findings of a recent World Bank study is that even the chances of surviving a crash are critically dependent on victims’ financial status—whether they can afford medical care
11%
More than one in 10 global fatalities related to road accidents occur in India, even though India has only one per cent of the world’s vehicles
10%
of crash victims (deaths) are truck drivers (according to a 2018 ministry of road transport and highways study), but only about 20% of truck drivers surveyed had medical insurance and only 40% any life cover; 66% (two of three) were unaware of eligible compensation under third-party liability insurance
64%
of low-income crash victims survive, compared to 88% of high-income victims, the difference being on account of skewed access to medical care and the ability to afford post-crash and long-term care
38 million
were pushed into poverty in 2011-12 because of crashrelated out-of-pocket medical expenses
78%
of rural households reported having to borrow after a crash; for urban households the figure was 34%
24%
of low-income respondents said they had to sell/ mortgage assets just to meet daily expenses
7.6 months
worth of income is lost for low-income households (LIHs) following a crash; highincome households (HIHs) lose less than 1 month’s worth of income; 75% of LIHs reported a decline in total household income after a crash (HIHs 57%)