Syllabus: GS2/Governance
Context
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the NGO SaveLIFE Foundation released the joint report on India’s top 100 districts in terms of severity of road accident fatalities.
Major Findings
- Uttar Pradesh accounted for most of the top 20 districts in fatalities.
- Tamil Nadu has 19 “severe” districts in terms of fatalities, followed by 11 districts in Maharashtra, nine districts in Karnataka and eight in Rajasthan.
- Most accidents are concentrated in known locations, such as specific road stretches, crash-prone spots, and police station areas.
- 63% of the total road crash fatalities occur outside of the National Highways.
- Around 54% of all fatalities were reported on 18 target corridors of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and state Public Works Department (PWD) roads.
- Factors Responsible: 59% of all road accident fatalities do not involve any traffic violation, indicating that road engineering is one of the biggest contributory factors for deaths.
- Rear-end, head-on and pedestrian crashes were responsible for 72% of all fatalities.
- On violations contributing to crashes, speeding accounted for 19% of deaths, followed by rash driving (7%) and dangerous overtaking (3%).
- Recommendations:
- NHAI and state PWDs should conduct a comprehensive Road Safety Survey on each corridor and identify the prevalence of engineering issues.
- It has recommended upgrading the critical police stations with adequate manpower for undertaking enforcement activities, auditing all 108 ambulances for compliance with the National Ambulance code.
- Existing government schemes must be utilised effectively, with better coordination among key departments — police, hospitals, and road agencies.
- The current budget should be aligned for engineering, enforcement resources and health capacity.
Road Accidents in India
- India ranks first globally in terms of the number of annual road accident fatalities.
- Its numbers are far ahead of second and third-ranked countries: China accounts for just 36% of India’s total road deaths, and the United States for 25%.
- The number of road accident fatalities in India rose 2.3% to over 1.77 lakh in 2024, resulting in the death of 485 persons every day.
- As per the World Road Statistics 2024, the fatality rate per lakh population is 4.3 in China, and 12.76 in the United States of America, as compared to India, where it is 11.89.
| Do you know? – In September 2020, the UN General Assembly launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 which aims to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries byat least 50% by 2030. – The 2nd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety was held in Brazil, which declared 2011-2020 as the 1st decade of action for Road Safety. a. In the Brasilia Declaration, the participating countries set targets under the Sustainable Development Goals and pledged to reduce road crash fatalities by 50% in the next 5 years. |
Government Initiatives
- National Road Safety Policy India, 2010: It emphasized the need for better road infrastructure, stricter enforcement of traffic rules, enhanced emergency medical services, public awareness campaigns, and improved post-crash care.
- Electronic Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR)/ Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD): Centralized system for reporting, managing, and analyzing road accident data to improve safety.
- Speedy Assistance to Accident Victims:
- Award ₹25,000 for Good Samaritans who help accident victims.
- Faster compensation: ₹2.5 lakh for grievous hurt, ₹5 lakh for death.
- Enhanced compensation for hit-and-run victims: ₹2 lakh for death, ₹50,000 for grievous hurt.
- Simplified procedures for third-party insurance, including hired drivers.
- Vehicle Fitness: Old, unfit vehicles contribute to accidents. The Ministry is setting up model Inspection and Certification Centers across States/UTs (28 States/UTs covered by 2024).
- IIT Madras Collaboration: Establishing a Center of Excellence for Road Safety to develop new products, conduct research, and promote safety initiatives.
- Accident Blackspot Rectification: Priority on identifying and improving accident-prone spots on National Highways through engineering measures.
- Road Safety Audits: Mandatory audits for all highway projects at design, construction, and operation stages.
- Brasilia Declaration: India was one amongst the initial 100+ countries to have signed the Brasilia Declaration in 2015 committing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3.6 i.e.to half the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2030.
- Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019: The act brought about higher penalties for traffic violations, including speeding, drunk driving, and not wearing helmets or seat belts.
Way Ahead
- Global best practices show that countries that adopted a Systems Approach have been able to achieve their targets of 50% reduction in fatalities or are close to achieving it.
- India has done substantial research on road safety through premiere institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).
- The government can collaborate with these institutes to improve policies and action plans.
- The corporate sector can play a role in helping strengthen road safety by funding research, spreading awareness.
Source: TH
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