Gist of Making Our Roads Safer | Gist of Rajya Sabha TV / RSTV (now Sansad TV) - UPSC PDF Download

Context

Background

• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways has released World Bank Report titled “Traffic Crash Injuries And Disabilities: The Burden on India Society”, prepared in association with the NGO – Save Life Foundation.
• Releasing the report, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways termed the road accident scenario in India more dangerous than the Covid pandemic.

Summary of the Debate

• The report is prepared by World Bank in close collaboration with the NGO-Save Life Foundation.
• The survey data was collected from four Indian states i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
• The research assesses the social, financial, gender, and psychological impacts of road crashes on poor and disadvantaged households.
• Report basically looks at the economic and social economic burden on the people.
• It finds that very low awareness about insurance, insurance mechanism and institutional support is there which impede the support they can get from state. 
• The accident cost is a tremendous burden to society and the nation as the estimated cost of a death in a road accident is around Rs 91 lakh. 
• The financial impact of the crash is much more on poorer households. It says more than 75% poor households in India reported a decline in their income as a result of a road traffic crash. 

Impact of Road Accidents

• Social Impact
  • The report highlights the disproportionate impact of a road crash on poor households that pushes them into a vicious cycle of poverty and debt.
    • The report sheds light on the links between road crashes, poverty, inequality, and vulnerable road users in India.
  • The post-crash impact among Low Income Households is more severe compared to High Income Households:
  • The incidence of fatality among poor households is 44% in rural areas compared to 11.6% in urban areas.
  • The report stated that Lower Income Household (LIH) reported twice the numbers of deaths post-crash as compared to High Income Household (HIH).
  • The victims from LIH and rural areas are also twice more likely to suffer a disability after a crash than their HIH counterparts.
  • The report highlighted that the post-crash impact was more severe for LIH in low capacity states compared to HIH in high capacity states.
  • The report highlights that women bore the burden of crashes across poor and rich households, often taking up extra work, assuming greater responsibilities, and performing caregiving activities after a crash.
• Economic Impact
  • The report found out that more than 75% of poor households in India reported a decline in their income as a result of a road traffic crash.
  • The financial loss for the poor amounted to more than seven month’s household income, while it was equivalent to less than one month’s household income for rich households.
  • The decline in total household income was sharper among LIH (75%) than HIH (54%).
    • The severe impact of decline in income was highest among LIH in rural areas (56%) compared to LIH in urban areas (29.5%) and HIH rural (39.5%).
  • About 40 percent of women reported a change in their working patterns post-crash, while around 11 per cent reported taking up extra work to deal with the financial crisis.
• Emotional Impact
  • The women bear the brunt of caregiving activities post-crash, leading to a double burden of labour and mental load.
  • The report highlights that road accidents exacerbated inequality of opportunities in returning to livelihoods and income generating tasks.

What More Needs To Be Done?

• Reducing road accident deaths and injuries can boost income growth. Road accident deaths and injuries strike down prime working age adults in low and middle income countries.
  • Large welfare gains can be achieved from proven cost effective road safety interventions.
• Setting up of institutional policy mechanism around this. 
• There is a need to have post crash care which allowed victims to reach hospitals at time. 
• Dedicated lanes for pedestrians and cyclists should be made to keep them safer from vehicles.
• In India, Tamil Nadu has seen a decline in number of accident fatalities, this model can be applied at pan India level.

Recommendations To Make Road Safety

• Increasing awareness especially among households and truck drivers.
• Increase the chances of golden hour, where victims can reach to hospitals in quick time. 
• Provide financial support to the victim family.
• Interim compensation.
• Established emergency care set up.

Way Forward

• Need comprehensive approach and follow all ease of road safety.
• There should be focus on how the roads are being built. 
• Emergency care, pre and post crash facilities should be there. 
• Data of fatalities, accident prone areas should be collected to reduce the fatalities in future. 
• Cost effective safety interventions are required.

Facts

• With only 1 per cent of the world's vehicles, India accounts for 11 per cent of the global death in road accidents, the highest in the world.
• The country accounts for about 4.5 lakh road crashes per annum, in which 1.5 lakh people die.
• In the last decade, 13 lakh people died and another 50 lakh got injured on Indian roads.
• The report estimates the crash costs at Rs 5.96 lakh crore or 3.14 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
• As per, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) the socio-economic costs of road crashes at Rs 1,47,114 crore in India, which is equivalent to 0.77 per cent of the country's GDP.
• As per the Ministry, 76.2 per cent of people who are killed in road crashes are in their prime working-age, 18-45 years.
• Globally, road traffic injuries (RTIs) are the eighth leading cause of death.A