Roads & Us

According to the 2021 World Bank commissioned report, Traffic Crash Injuries and Disabilities : The Burden on Indian Society, India has 1% of the world’s vehicles but 11% of all road accident deaths. As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Report titled, Road Accidents in India – 2022, based on the data/information received from police departments of various States/UTs, in 2022, a total of 4.61 lakh road accidents occurred in India, leading to 1.68 lakh fatalities which left 4.43 lakh people injured. These figures represent an 11.9% year-on-year increase in accidents, a 9.4% rise in fatalities, and a surge of 15.3% in the number of people injured compared to the previous year.

It is widely believed and highly probable that the figures given out by GOI are under-estimations on account of large under-reporting of accidents. It is estimated that currently every year, approx. 2 lakh Indians die in road accidents, i.e., around 22 every hour, one every three minutes. Around 3 times as many (approx. 6 lakhs) get injured requiring hospitalisation or ending with permanent incapacitation, ie, 60 every hour – one every minute. One of the prime causes of this dismal picture is not following basic traffic discipline and poor understanding of road safety rules, apart from poor design and maintenance of roads. 

Somehow all our analysis on traffic safety starts and ends with two or three standard prescriptions. Wear helmets, put on seat belts, and drive slowly. Such precautions help to reduce the intensity of accidents – they do little to prevent accidents. After all, prevention is better than cure.

Travel on any public road in India, and you will find people driving blissfully while talking on their cell phones, driving on the wrong side of the road, using high-beam within town / city limits, rarely using side-indicators while turning (leave alone while changing lanes), overtaking from the left etc. etc. I could rant on and on, but I would like to spare me readers from this torture. 

The concept of right-of-way, say, which vehicle has priority when two vehicles meet at a crossing or the fact that pedestrians have right-of-way at zebra crossings is conspicuous by its absence. I doubt that even one in hundred experienced driving license holders in India would be even aware of this concept. The lack of knowledge of such nuances is also likely to be high among those whose job is to ensure our traffic moves smoothly and roads are accident free – traffic policemen, driving instructors, or driving licensing authorities.

A quick sample survey of the level of understanding of traffic rules by traffic policemen and licensing authorities would easily throw up the extent of gaps in their knowledge. Educating and training them should then be the first line of action in improving traffic discipline and thus preventing accidents. 

The low level of awareness of basic traffic discipline manifests itself in various pathologies on our roads on a continuous basis. Mounting cases of road-rage leading even to murder is one. Or vehicles and pedestrians moving haphazardly and weaving in and out of traffic significantly slowing down average traffic speed and hurting everybody by wasting commuting time and increased fuel usage is another. Moreover, this leads to inefficient use of scarce and expensive road infrastructure, decreasing the return on their investment as well as the average speed of traffic movement. These are very tangible and large economic losses to society but are rarely factored in, in any discussion on road safety. Studies carried out by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) have estimated that traffic crash costs alone may be equivalent to as much as 3.14 percent of the national GDP.

Controlling this Frankensteinian monster is imperative and needs a multi-pronged approach. First, is to increase level of understanding of traffic rules and discipline across users, second is to reduce the pressure on available road infrastructure by putting in more investment in public transport systems – buses, trams, and metros so as to make them more user friendly, and third is to improve the design of our roads and road signs.

It is likely that the savings in costs by having faster moving and less congested roads by having good public transport systems may be greater than the subsidies that governments put in public transport networks.

Some low hanging fruits for improving public transport usage include, having more and better intra-city buses, having functional bus stands and ensuring that the public buses stop there. The bus-stops should prominently display the name of the place and the bus numbers and routes of buses plying through it. Very often we see that bus-stops are full of garish advertisements but essential information which would enable easier travel is either missing or difficult to locate. It would also be extremely helpful if all bus-stands have a schematic diagram of the major bus routes which would enable passengers to easily figure out which route / bus numbers to board to reach say from point A to B. Some bus-stops in Bengaluru and all bus-stands in Paris and other major European cities have this. 

We should also consider equipping all bus stands with an electronic display which would provide information in real time as to which bus number is expected at what time, say, over the next one hour. This would greatly help commuters to plan their travel plans. Considering that most public buses are now GPS enabled, India with its aspirations to be the IT hub of the world can easily devise such a mechanism, something which is common place in many European cities.

Talking about public transport, there is much that can be improved in our metro train systems. I will save that for another day.