India’s Road Safety Crisis – Engineering Gaps and Rising Fatalities

Road Safety Crisis Latest News

• A recent national report has identified India’s deadliest districts for road accidents, revealing that most fatalities are linked to infrastructure and systemic failures rather than traffic violations.

India’s Road Safety Scenario

• India records the highest number of road accident deaths globally, far exceeding other major countries. 
• Despite having the world’s second-largest road network, road safety outcomes remain poor. 
• According to recent estimates, nearly 3.5 lakh people died in road accidents during 2023-24, highlighting the scale of the crisis.
• Road safety in India has traditionally focused on driver behaviour, such as speeding or drunk driving. 
• However, emerging evidence shows that this approach alone is insufficient, as deeper structural issues dominate accident causation.

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Key Structural Factors Behind Road Fatalities

• The report underlines that 59% of road accident fatalities occurred without any traffic violation, clearly pointing to road engineering deficiencies as a primary cause of deaths. These include:
  • Poor road design and alignment
  • Absence or damage of crash barriers
  • Inadequate signage and road markings
  • Insufficient street lighting
  • Unsafe junctions and pedestrian crossings
• Such defects convert routine travel into a high-risk activity, especially on rural roads and highways.

Geographic Concentration of Road Accidents

• Road fatalities in India are highly concentrated rather than evenly spread. 
• The report identifies 100 districts accounting for more than 25% of total road deaths over two years. Among them:
  • Nashik Rural and Pune Rural recorded the highest number of severe accidents.
  • Other high-fatality districts include Patna, Ahmednagar, Purba Midnapur, and Belagavi.
  • States such as Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan dominate the list.
• This concentration indicates that targeted interventions in specific districts can yield substantial reductions in fatalities.

Nature and Timing of Fatal Accidents

• The report highlights clear accident patterns:
  • 53% of deaths occurred between 6 PM and midnight, reflecting poor visibility and fatigue-related risks.
  • Rear-end, head-on, and pedestrian crashes accounted for 72% of fatalities.
  • Speeding contributed to only 19% of deaths, while rash driving and dangerous overtaking together accounted for less than 10%.
• This challenges the perception that driver misconduct alone is responsible and shifts attention to road design and traffic management failures.

Emergency Response and Medical Gaps

• Post-accident response remains weak:
  • Only about one-fifth of victims used the government 108 ambulance services.
  • A majority were transported using private vehicles or private ambulances, delaying critical care.
  • Hospital readiness and trauma care infrastructure vary widely across districts.
• Delayed medical response significantly increases mortality, making emergency preparedness a crucial pillar of road safety.

News Summary: Findings and Recommendations of the Report

• The joint report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and SaveLIFE Foundation provides a clear roadmap for action:
  • Focus on known crash-prone locations rather than spreading resources thinly.
  • Conduct Road Safety Surveys on critical corridors by NHAI and state PWDs.
  • Implement site-specific engineering corrections based on Indian Road Congress and MoRTH guidelines.
  • Strengthen policing capacity at high-fatality police station jurisdictions.
  • Improve emergency response by expanding effective coverage of 108 ambulance services.
  • Use existing schemes more efficiently instead of launching new ones.
• The report stresses that reducing road deaths requires better coordination, clearer accountability, and sustained leadership, not additional laws or schemes.

Source: IE