The Editorial Analysis- The Road to Safety

The Road to Safety- Relevance for UPSC Exam

• GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

संपादकीय विश्लेषण- रोड टू सेफ्टी

Road Accidents in India

• Every year, mega Indian cities witness nearly 50,000 accidents. A quarter of them are fatal.
• More than half of these are on account of over speeding and a quarter due to dangerous driving.
• Nearly half of those who lose their lives are pedestrians. Almost half of these avoidable deaths are due to collisions with buses and trucks.

Case study of Delhi

• In the case of New Delhi, road deaths peaked in 2009. Since then, they have gradually tapered despite burgeoning numbers of vehicles.
• This improvement came on the back of commendable interventions by the Delhi Police on black spots, traffic calming measures, and enhanced enforcement.
• The Delhi government has now initiated a drive to enforce lane discipline, starting with strict compliance on the bus lane.
  • This required a reorientation in approach by all road users. Buses, like big bullies, hitherto had a free run.
  • Now, deviations from the lane invite harsh penalties.
• Driving Licenses: Delhi now has automated driving test centres, which have reduced the margin of human intervention. Consequentially, failure rates (about 40%) are far higher than other cities.

Road Accidents in India – NCRB Report 2020

Eliminating Road Accidents in India

• Effective driver license granting mechanism: A learner’s license, issued after a test on a basic understanding of road signages and traffic rules, is the first requirement. A driving skill test confirms the ability of the driver to wield the wheel.
  • An additional step of mandatory simulator tests and psychological evaluation could be embedded in the regulatory framework- more so for drivers of heavy transport vehicles.
• Improving Road Designs: road designs are to be such to accommodate all users fairly.
  • Buses must stick to their lanes and stop at designated bus stops.
  • Our roads need to make spaces for all users- pedestrians/cyclists, buses, other vehicles- and designate pick-up and drop-off points for taxis and auto rickshaws.
  • This entails remodelling our roads with intuitive road designs and signages, which mark out different zones of road usage.
  • A pilot stretch has been redesigned collaboratively with IIT Delhi.
• Promoting use of Public Transport: The propensity of people to use personal vehicles instead of public transport also adds to the chaos.
  • Some of this is attributable to need for improvement in efficiencies of public transport, but partly on account of personal choices.
  • Delhi has the highest per capita registration of personal vehicles — nearly 110 cars per 1,000 people, as against a national average of 25.
• Introducing Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions: it will integrate all options of public mobility on a common digital platform.
  • A commuter could then choose to hop onto a bus, metro, a cab or an auto.
  • A government-backed digital aggregator of all mobility options would make public transport more efficient and provide inbuilt solutions for last-mile and first-mile connectivity.

Road to Safety

Conclusion

• Disciplining traffic on roads is a mammoth exercise in collective behavioural change. The onus of change lies as much on citizens as on the government.

National Road Safety Board

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