Speed Kills, But Who's Counting?

Some of us are quintessential adrenaline junkies, who like living our lives like a non-stop roller coaster ride, waiting for thrilling surprises around every kerb and turn. The rest of us mortals have no choice but to keep our fingers crossed and pray that we don't end up pushed into obscurity as mere statistics in government yearbooks on road accidents. These are the feelings I could conjure up after reading the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' (MoRTH's) report titled 'Road Accidents in India - 2022' released earlier this month.

Despite accounting for a mere 1% of the global vehicular population, India witnesses among the highest number of accident-related deaths in the world. A total of 4,61,312 accidents occurred across India during the calendar year 2022, which led to 1,68,491 deaths (which culminated in about 21.7 lakh accidents and 7.8 lakh fatalities between 2018 and 2022). To put it into perspective, that translates into 19 lives lost every hour. What might possibly baffle you is that about 67% of these accidents (3,09,247) took place on straight roads, leading to 1,11,815 deaths and 2,97,694 injured (about 66-67% of total death and injury count, respectively). Further, almost 48% of accidents and 55% of deaths occurred in open areas (areas which normally do not see any human activity in the vicinity). On the other hand, curved, pothole-ridden and steep graded roads collectively accounted for less than 15% of the total road accidents, deaths and injury count in 2022.

These statistics only point to the false sense of safety that speed demons seem to find and cling to while hitting the road. Straight roads and open areas are considered "less risky", which is why there is a tendency to go full throttle on such roads.

Watch out for the Killer Two-Wheelers

Two-wheeler users were found to be the most vulnerable group in terms of falling victim to accidents, with a ~45% share in total fatalities. Pedestrians were the next vulnerable group, accounting for ~20% of persons killed. Unfortunately, two-wheelers were also the biggest killer group, accounting for 28% of total deaths, closely followed by cars, taxis, vans & LMVs (~24%) and trucks/lorries (~20%).

Highways - Death Traps

In spite of accounting for only about 5% of the country's aggregate road network, national & state highways witnessed a disproportionately large share of accidents (~56%) and accident-related fatalities (~60%). These not only point towards increasing traffic volumes, but also towards a high tendency of reckless behaviour & distractions on highways.

A World Bank study shows that road crashes are estimated to cost the Indian economy between 5-7% of GDP a year.

Style trumps Safety

Apparently, style and speed trump safety on Indian roads. Of the 74,897 two-wheeler riders (including pillions) who lost their lives in accidents during 2022, about 50,029 were not wearing helmets.

Clear Weather, Unclear Vision?

Weather conditions seem to have no significant bearing on road safety. Accidents under adverse weather conditions such as rain, fog and hail accounted for under 16% of total road accidents and fatalities during 2022. On the other hand, almost three-fourths of all accidents and fatalities took place under what would be considered as clear and sunny weather conditions.

The Road (Safety) Ahead

Just a few weeks ago, while speaking at the 27th World Road Congress in Prague, Shri Nitin Gadkari had reiterated India’s commitment to reducing road-accident-related fatalities by 50% by the year 2030. MoRTH has been introducing several measures to mitigate road accidents, including spending on education, road engineering, and introducing mandates on vehicle engineering such as seat-belt reminders, manual overrides for central locking systems, over speed warning systems, etc., and the imposition of stricter norms and higher penalties. However, speed demons don't seem to be budging, pinning the blame on situational factors, thrill-seeking, social pressures, and even innocent non-realization. The situation is not likely to improve anytime soon.

At least not until riders really understand that driving is a privilege, not a right.