Accidents on Indian Roads

In January 2016, the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping has announced to spend Rs.11,000 crore in the next five years to fix 726 black spots on Indian roads. As per government guidelines, a black spot is identified as a location on a national highway where more than 10 accidents take place in a year. The World Health Organisation says that India has some of the world’s deadliest roads.

Statistics on road accidents

In India, around five lakh accidents occur in a year, in which 1.5 lakh people die and another 3 lakh are crippled for life. In 2014 alone, more than 139,000 people lost their lives. That many people don’t die even in terrorist-related killings or due to diseases. Road accidents cause an annual loss of Rs. 55,000-60,000 crore, or 3% of the GDP, to the country. According to the government’s released comprehensive list of black spots on national highways, the southern states are in worst status. The three states – Tamil Nadu (100), Karnataka (86), Telangana (71) account for more than one-third of total black spots in the country. Seven states and six union territories did not report any black spots.

The union government has identified 22 of the deadliest black spots across the country that are responsible for killing of more than 95 people each between 2011-13. These were put on a high priority list. The government has already working on fixing 10 out of 13 identified “black spots” on the national capital’s highways. The worrying factor is the no action has been taken so far on all the black spots identified in states such as Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Jammu and Kashmir. To handle the issue, the government is also planning to divert some funds from road excise collections to states, so that black spots can be fixed on priority.

The main reason for accidents is the ease with which one can get a driving licence. The government is going to create new driving centres where driving licences are issued on the basis of computerised tests. The proposed Road Safety and Transport Bill, 2014 to replace the existing Motor Vehicles Act is held up by the vested interests. The bill has been diluted over the years, but it is yet to be passed by the Indian parliament.

Factors to address the road accident killings

1. Speeding is responsible for maximum number of deaths on Indian roads. In 2014, around 41% of the deaths from accidents are caused by speeding. Speeding is the easiest way to control accidents, and even a small reduction in speed has greater effect in reduction of accidents.
2. Overloading of vehicles, especially trucks, makes it difficult to control them when it is needed. Trucks with protruding loads of steel rods are also commonly observed on Indian roads.
3. Conducting sustained campaigns against drink driving.
4. In 2014, around 30% of road accident deaths were of riders or passengers of two-wheelers. According to the World Health Organisation, wearing a helmet can reduce the risk of severe injury by 72% and the risk of death by 39%. Only in few Indian cities, wearing of helmets is mandatory for two-wheeler drivers only, not other passengers.