Why in the News?

• A recent national report has identified India’s deadliest districts for road accidents, revealing that most fatalities are linked to infrastructure and systemic failures rather than traffic violations.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Road Safety Scenario (Statistics, Key Factors Behind Fatalities, etc.)
• News Summary

India’s Road Safety Scenario

• India records the highest number of road accident deaths globally, far exceeding other major countries.
• Despite having the world’s second-largest road network, road safety outcomes remain poor.
• According to recent estimates, nearly 3.5 lakh people died in road accidents during 2023-24, highlighting the scale of the crisis.
• Road safety in India has traditionally focused on driver behaviour, such as speeding or drunk driving.
• However, emerging evidence shows that this approach alone is insufficient, as deeper structural issues dominate accident causation.

Key Structural Factors Behind Road Fatalities

• The report underlines that 59% of road accident fatalities occurred without any traffic violation, clearly pointing to road engineering deficiencies as a primary cause of deaths. These include:

• Poor road design and alignment
• Absence or damage of crash barriers
• Inadequate signage and road markings
• Insufficient street lighting
• Unsafe junctions and pedestrian crossings

• Such defects convert routine travel into a high-risk activity, especially on rural roads and highways.

Geographic Concentration of Road Accidents

• Road fatalities in India are highly concentrated rather than evenly spread.
• The report identifies 100 districts accounting for more than 25% of total road deaths over two years. Among them:

• Nashik Rural and Pune Rural recorded the highest number of severe accidents.
• Other high-fatality districts include Patna, Ahmednagar, Purba Midnapur, and Belagavi.
• States such as Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan dominate the list.

• This concentration indicates that targeted interventions in specific districts can yield substantial reductions in fatalities.

Nature and Timing of Fatal Accidents

• The report highlights clear accident patterns:

• 53% of deaths occurred between 6 PM and midnight, reflecting poor visibility and fatigue-related risks.
• Rear-end, head-on, and pedestrian crashes accounted for 72% of fatalities.
• Speeding contributed to only 19% of deaths, while rash driving and dangerous overtaking together accounted for less than 10%.

• This challenges the perception that driver misconduct alone is responsible and shifts attention to road design and traffic management failures.

Emergency Response and Medical Gaps

• Post-accident response remains weak:

• Only about one-fifth of victims used the government 108 ambulance services.
• A majority were transported using private vehicles or private ambulances, delaying critical care.
• Hospital readiness and trauma care infrastructure vary widely across districts.

• Delayed medical response significantly increases mortality, making emergency preparedness a crucial pillar of road safety.

News Summary: Findings and Recommendations of the Report

• The joint report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and SaveLIFE Foundation provides a clear roadmap for action:

• Focus on known crash-prone locations rather than spreading resources thinly.
• Conduct Road Safety Surveys on critical corridors by NHAI and state PWDs.
• Implement site-specific engineering corrections based on Indian Road Congress and MoRTH guidelines.
• Strengthen policing capacity at high-fatality police station jurisdictions.
• Improve emergency response by expanding effective coverage of 108 ambulance services.
• Use existing schemes more efficiently instead of launching new ones.

• The report stresses that reducing road deaths requires better coordination, clearer accountability, and sustained leadership, not additional laws or schemes.