Road Safety –Save Driving, Save Life

GOURAV CHANDRA UPADHAYAY

What is Road Safety? Road safety is the safety of people from road side injuries and

accidents. It involves various methods and measures which must be

followed by the road users to prevent serious injury and accidents.

The term road traffic safety is an indication of how safe individual users are on some particular road, or on the roads belonging to some region.

The main danger to road users is the likelihood of a traffic collision.

Road safety is must to be paid proper attention by each and every person on the earth, whether using vehicles or not.

Children and students are the most vulnerable group towards the road accidents, minor or major injuries and even death because of the lack of adult supervision.

There should not be late in making children well aware about the road safety rules and measures in their early ages.

It should be the duty of parents and teachers to teach them properly under their nice supervision.

Road Accident Statistics More than 1.2 million people are killed in Road Accidents, worldwide,

every year. 3 to 4 % of Gross National Product is lost in Road Accidents. One child is killed in Road Accidents, in every three minutes in the

World.

“Health of the Nation is more important than the wealth of the Nation”

Road safety is a major public health concern. Indian road network is second longest in the world

covering more than 3 million Kilometers. 80% of road length consists of village and other roads and

12% constitutes major districts roads. 85% of passenger loads and 70% of freight load is carried

by road. As per 2015 data there were 72.7 million vehicles on roads

and vehicle fleets are doubling after every 6 to 7 years. Financial outlay for road transport sector during 10th plan

i.e. 20012-20016 was 9416.90 crores.

Road Accidents in India (In Thousands)

Year Road Accidents

Persons Killed Persons Injured

1970 114.1 14.5 70.1

1980 153.2 24.6 109.1

1990 282.6 54.1 244.1

2010 391.4 78.9 399.3

2016 439.2 94.9 465.2

Factors affecting Road Traffic Crashes:- Types of roads and road users. Colliding vehicles. Environment and road related factors like road geometry, design, visibility, diversions

etc. Vehicle related causing traffic mix. Composition and flow of road traffic. Adherence / enforcement of road safety regulations. Unsafe driving behavior. Traffic congestion caused by increased use of private mode of transport and less

practice of vehicle pooling. Highway capacity shortages (National Highways constitute less than 2 % of the road

length of the country but carry 40 % of road based traffic). Lack of valid and fake driving licenses Nature of traffic management.

•Over loading of vehicles particularly trucks and tractor trolleys.

Fig. Improper and overloading

Road Safety – A Challenge 80 % of road accidents are due to driver negligence and fault, so there is a

need to monitor driver training school regarding their infrastructure, equipment, quality control, qualified driver training instructors.

Need for parking spaces and truck terminals out side the cities to reduce traffic crashes.

Need to avoid using mobiles while driving. Need to use helmets and seat belts while driving. Need to inculcate road safety culture. Need to count traveling time for reaching the destination. Need to design roads in a way that even if a person is wrong the system

does not permit him to do that wrong. Need to strictly enforce yellow color code for school buses and to regulate

their speed. Need to stop the ringing up a e person while he is driving. Need for stress free driving, avoid driving while under stress

Awareness Some effective measures of road safety are like basic awareness about vehicle,

defensive driving according to weather and road conditions. There are various methods of creating awareness among common public such as

seminars, workshops. By adding basic road-safety lessons to syllabus in students education Make people aware about green cross code means stop, look, listen, think and

then cross. Learning of traffic lights, understanding of road signs, etc. Following all the road safety measures help a lot to protect all the road problems. Use of vehicle lights and horn, wearing seat belt, well use of vehicle mirrors,

avoid over-speeding. Understanding road lights, maintaining distance of vehicle on road, proper

understanding of handling crisis situation, telecast of awareness documentaries on TV, etc.

Road Traffic Injuries cause:- Death. Disability. Hospitalization. High Social and economic costs which include medical costs, cost related

to administration, Legal and police expenditure, collateral damage in terms of damage to property and motor vehicles, loss due to income forgone rising out of absence from work or disability.

In 2005, there were 4.4 Lakh road accidents leading to death of 94,968 persons i.e. there was one road accident every minute and one road accident death every 6 minutes.

Quality of life of accident survivors becomes poor as they live with pain and suffering.

Road Safety Rules for Children Parents should teach their children to be extra attentive and look everywhere (left and

right) before crossing the road street. Children should always cross the roads by holding hands of their elders or friends. They should never run on the roads, should not be in hurry or leaving parents hand

and be calm. They should be taught to only cross the roads at crossroads after seeing traffic signals

for pedestrians. They must be aware of the meaning of colours (red means stop, green means go and

yellow means also stop), traffic light basics and importance of traffic signs on the roads. They should wear helmet and use all the measures while riding bicycle on the roads by ensuring proper functioning of brakes, horns and steering.

They should not use earphone or other music listening instruments while riding bicycle on the road.

Parents may teach their children in better way by wearing seat-belts while driving a car or helmet while driving a bike anytime.

Parents should follow all the road safety rules and road traffic rules while driving vehicle to establish good examples in front of their children as they are first example in the lives of their kids.

Multisectorial Involvement in Road Traffic Crash

Complete co-ordination in all these sectors is needed for the rescue, transportation, trauma care and relief, investigation and

compilation of data to achieve total road safety in the interest of road users.

Road Traffic Crash

Road Designers Transport Sector

Legal Sectors

Automobile Manufacturers

Insurance Sector

Health SectorCivic Agencies

Flow of information in case of road traffic crash

Road Traffic crash

Informer

Police Control Room (PCR)

PCR Van or Ambulance

Traffic Police

Police Station

Removes injured to the hospital after giving first aid and pre-hospital care where ever possible.

Conclusion Thrust of road safety is 4 E’s i.e. education, enforcement,

engineering and environment. Road safety is very important for people of all age group to be safe

and secure as well as reduce the number of road accidents and injury cases.

So, everyone should strictly follow all the rules, regulations and signs of road traffic lights. Children should be well practiced from the end of their parents at home and get proper study by the teacher in the school.

Save Drive, Save Life..!!