The 3 Es Of Road Safety: Education, Engineering & Enforcement

 As per the latest World Health Organisation reports India accounts for over 11% of total global road traffic accidents (RTA). 

And As per another latest report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the country witnessed almost 1.5 lakh road accident deaths, which cost the nation almost 3-5% of its GDP.

The MoRTH has identified three E's, namely education, engineering, and enforcement of law and legislation, in order to provide better and safer road engineering as well as more effective legislation.

Road safety is a multidisciplinary profession, where public-private partnerships bring the best results. These include professionals with engineering, public health, public safety, and education among the many other disciplines that could be involved.

In the last ten years, the Indian government has implemented a variety of road safety campaigns, including television advertisements, radio commercials, movie slide displays, distribution of posters and books on road safety signage and signs; as well as annual Road Safety Week.

In addition to this, the government has multiple ongoing public-private partnerships (PPP) looking after the road safety education needs of the country. One such successful PPP is the Safer Roads for Gurugram (SRFG) initiative led by AB InBev launched in 2018.

SRFG brought together government, industry associations, academia, research, NGOs and corporates to tackle road safety in India with an initial focus on Gurugram.

Under this initiative, the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) developed an e-learning module, which was launched by Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP at the Safer Roads for Safer Lives event organized by SRFG and The Quint.

1. The e-learning course wants to raise awareness and teach people the importance of road safety measures. This will help make the youth safer drivers.

2. The e-learning course provides knowledge on safer driving behaviours that can help make the youth safe drivers.

3. It also explores different ways to help combat road traffic injuries and death.

Certain engineering measures are considered essential for adoption to improve road safety - the geometry of the road, separation of local traffic, pedestrian facility, etc which are identified through regular Road Safety audits.

The attributes of roads based on traffic volumes and densities that contribute to road fatalities are no longer necessary to research. To design safer roads, it is essential to identify hazardous places, high-risk places, and crash places.

Rash driving, not wearing a helmet, seat-belt usage, and over-speeding are the five most common roadway traffic injuries-causing behaviours. Many nations have legislation prohibiting these harmful activities, but they may be not well enforced. In actuality, unless individuals feel that failing to follow the rules will lead to negative consequences like fines or license suspension, such atrophy will be followed.

Disobeying road rules should be considered highly likely to result in being detected and punished. In addition, the penalties should be significant enough to make people think twice before breaking the rules.

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2) Road accidents are a major problem all over the world, and they claim the lives of more people every year. Although road safety measures have been in place for many years now, there is still a lot that needs to be done in order to make roads safer. One way to create awareness about road safety and reduce the number of casualties is through animation films.

This film provides an overview of different types of accidents, tells the stories of real victims, and offers tips on how Road Safety can be improved. It also aims to raise public awareness about the dangers associated with drunk driving, driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol, texting while operating a vehicle, etc.

Hope that you are now more aware of what actions to take while driving. With proper planning and implementation of these E’s, a safer road system can be created.

And just as it takes multiple disciplines to make a healthy school lunch menu, it will also take years for us to build roads with safety first in mind. In the meantime, please remember – to slow down! Slow down! And drive responsibly!

Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve this? Share your thoughts on [email protected]