Each year road traffic accidents (RTA) are responsible for 1.2 million deaths worldwide. Earlier this month, a major road accident happened on the Pipali-Bhoan motorway in Pauri Garhwal's Nainidanda block. The incident occurred near Gween village when the overloaded private bus fell into the 200 feet deep gorge causing 48 deaths. Sixty passengers were travelling in a 28-seater which was headed for Ramnagar from Bhoan. On July 19, there was another road accident in Tehri, in which 16 people lost their lives.
There is an urgent need to ensure that such accidents do no happen and precious lives are not lost, for most of these could have been prevented. The State and all the stake holders need to focus on road safety.
Road safety requires a multi-pronged approach. It would require the development and management of road infrastructure, provision of safer vehicles, legislation and law enforcement, mobility planning, provision of health and hospital services and most importantly the societal awareness and attitude change. It is to be understood that road safety is a shared responsibility of State Government and citizens.
In developing countries like India, the emergency services and trauma care is still not up to the mark. As such most of the accidents in Uttarakhand are also due to the poorly developed national highways, poor infrastructure and unattended hazard zones. The quick response teams are non-existent.
As per a study in Uttarakhand, the total number of RTA per one lakh population in 2011 was 14.9. The total number of persons killed per one lakh population was 9.3. The study found that the most common (69.5 per cent) cause of the accident was due to drivers’ fault including speeding, drunk driving, not wearing seat belt, careless driving, alcohol use while driving, inexperience, poor visibility, loss of control, use of cell phones and failing to judge other person's path/speed or error of judgement. The defective roads of the mountainous districts are the second major cause of accidents, accounting for 13.6 per cent. The other causes found were bad weather conditions (5.9 pre cent), pedestrian faults and miscellaneous causes (2.5 per cent), and defective motors (1.2 per cent).
There is an urgent need to adopt the model followed by countries like the Netherlands and Denmark, where roads are built according to their function. In developing countries, buses and trucks are more involved in accidents because the safety standards are lax and there is also a lack of proper safety standards. During winters vehicular visibility is very poor and is also responsible for many accidents.
The use of day time running lights, high-mounted stop lamps, reflectors and colourful clothing has decreased the incidence of crashes due to poor visibility. The most reliable methods of minimising the accidents are setting and enforcing speed and blood alcohol concentration limits.
Ajmer Singh, chief general manager, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has listed out the following steps:
The following engineering measure shall help in reduction of accidents in mountainous areas-
* Crash barrier on the valley side
* Road studs/cat eyes on centre line, valley side objects like tree, parapet and other objects beyond roads
* Adequate advance sign boards for curves, steep slopes etc
* Extra widening of roads at curves
* Adequate space for emergency parking
Adoption of new technologies needs to be considered. These technologies comprise intelligent speed adaptation in which the vehicle assesses the speed limit for the road; alcohol-ignition interlock systems that detect alcohol on the breath of drivers, preventing them from starting their engines; or electronic driver improvement monitors that connect individual driver profile assessments and an individual vehicle operator's actual driving performance. Speed limiting devices on vehicles, limits on engine power and non-vehicular traffic-calming measures hold the greatest promise in developing countries.
Similar to the causes, the measures to check RTA on mountainous roads have to be multi-pronged.
During planning of new road alignments on the mountains, unstable land, slopes and cracked areas prone to landslide and washing away should be averted. The protective measures including parapet/guide walls, safe barriers, proper drainage, suitable signage, markings etc should be installed. The blasting work should be least possible and well designed with sufficient warning arrangement so that fall of boulders would not cause loss of lives and property. To prevent and reduce occurrence of landslides, afforestation should be undertaken. The slopes and mountain roads should be well designed and constructed with a proper drainage system. In the fog prone area use of luminous paints/strips should be used for signboards. The parapets and guide walls should be properly marked on both ends and on hillside at regular intervals to give a feeling of safety to the drivers and pedestrians. The measures taken to avoid accidents due to drivers fault are lawful limiting of speed, use of breath alcohol detector at check points, wearing seat belt, driving carefully, regular driving license checks, banning the use of cell phones during driving and the use of helmets for two wheeler riders.
licences of commercial vehicles and drivers be given for a short period-three years, so that the condition of the vehicles is regularly reviewed. Overcrowding of the vehicles should also be heavily penalised by the authorities.
(A civil servant, the writer is presently posted as Controller, Communications, Uttarakhand. He belongs to Jaiharikhal village in Pauri Garhwal. Views expressed are personal)