The road accidents in India at national, state, and metropolitan city level. Analysis shows that the distribution of road accidental deaths and injuries in India varies according to age, gender, month and time. Age group 30-59 years is the most vulnerable population group, though males face higher level of fatalities and injuries than their female counterparts. Moreover, road accidents are relatively higher in extreme weather and during working hours. Analysis of road accident scenario at state and city level shows that there is a huge variation in fatality risk across states and cities. Fatality risk in 16 out of 35 states and union territories is higher than the all India average.
Although, burden of road accidents in India is marginally lower in its metropolitan cities, almost 50% of the cities face higher fatality risk than their moffusil counterparts. In general, while in many developed and developing countries including China, road safety situation is generally improving, India faces a worsening situation. Without increased efforts and new initiatives, the total number of road traffic deaths in India is likely to cross the mark of 250,000 by the year 2025. There is thus an urgent need to recognize the worsening situation in road deaths and injuries and to take appropriate action.
Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are an ever-existing threat to all road users. Automated vehicles (AVs; SAE Level 3–5) are developed in many countries. They are promoted with numerous benefits such as increased safety yielding less RTAs, less congestion, less greenhouse gas emissions, and the possibility of enabling non-driving related tasks (NDRTs). However, there has been no study which has investigated different NDRT conditions, while comparing participants who experienced a severe RTA in the past with those who experienced no RTA.
The analysis shows that during the last ten years, road accidental fatalities in India have increased at the rate of 5% per year while the population of the country has increased only at the rate of 1.4% per year. Due to this, fatality risk, road accidental deaths per 100,000 people, has increased from 7.9 in 2003 to 11.2 in 2013. Fatality risk in India is not only quadruple than that in some of the developed countries such as United Kingdom and Sweden but also still increasing rapidly. It is also found that the distribution of road accidental deaths and injuries varies according to age, gender, month and time. Among people of all age groups, people of economically active age group of 30-59 years is the most vulnerable. However, if we compare gender-wise fatalities and accidents, we found that the males accounted for 85.2% of all fatalities and 82.1% of all injuries in 2013. Moreover, road accidents are relatively higher in May-June and December-January which shows that extreme weather influences the occurrence of road accidents. Accidents remain relatively constant and high during 9 AM - 9 PM and variable but low during mid-night and early hours of the day. However, this does not imply that daytime driving is more risky than night time driving. The study also tries to find out cause-wise distribution of road accidents. There are several factors responsible for accidents but drivers’ fault is found to be the most important one; drivers’ fault accounted for 78% of total accidents in 2013. Analysis of road traffic accidents across states and union territories reveals that, during the year 2013, three states and union territories, Tamil Nadu (22.8), Haryana (17.2), and Andhra Pradesh (16.9), faced 50% higher fatality risk than all India average (11.2). It is found that the burden of road traffic accidents in India is relatively low in its metropolitan cities (million plus cities), though fatality risk varies from 3.0 fatalities per 100,000 people in Kolkata to 25.5 fatalities per 100,000 people in Jaipur. From 2003 to 2013, fatality risk in 6 out of 21 selected metropolitan cities increased at higher rate than that in the country. Ahmedabad faced the highest increase in fatality risk (0.6 to 4.2) followed by Varanasi (9.5 to 17.9), Patna (9.2 to 17.4), Chennai (8.8 to 14.3), Jaipur (15.9 to 25.5), and Vishakhapatnam (15.5 to 22.0).
Many countries, particularly from developed world, have experienced sharp reduction in road traffic accidents and fatalities over the past couple of decades by adopting a systems approach to road safety that emphasizes environment, vehicle, and road user interventions, rather than only focusing on direct approaches aimed at changing the behavior of road users. Although solutions for road safety problems in India may differ from those countries that have very high rate of motorization, some basic principles would remain the same. These include, for example, good road design and traffic management, improved vehicle standards, speed control, the use of seat belts and helmets, and the enforcement of alcohol limits. Current efforts to address the problems of road safety are minimal in comparison to what should be done. While there are many interventions that can save lives, political will and commitment at central, state, and local government levels are essential and without them little can be achieved. Road users in India
Despite the growing burden of road traffic fatalities and injuries, road safety has received insufficient attention at the central, state, and local government levels. The main reason for this is that the problem of road traffic accidents does not belong to any specific agency, either at central or state or local government levels. The responsibility of dealing with the various aspects of problems including road worthiness test for vehicles, the design of road networks and roads, urban planning, the introduction and enforcement of road safety legislations, and post-crash medical care is divided among many different agencies, sectors, and groups. There has usually been no leader to ensure that they coordinate their efforts and address the problem holistically. This situation needs to change so that responsibility is clearly assigned, specific roles are allocated to specific agencies, and duplication is avoided.
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