Safe travel is no accident

Fatalities and injuries resulting from road traffic accidents are a major and growing public health problem in India.... While in many developed and developing countries, including China, the situation is generally improving, India faces a worsening situation....

Road traffic fatalities and injuries are, to a great extent, preventable, since the risk of incurring injury in an accident is largely predictable and many countermeasures, proven to be effective, exist.... There is a need to promote not only regional economies in such a way that reduces the need for long-distance travel but also self-sufficient compact townships that would reduce the need for short-distance travel within the cities.

The problem of road accidents in India also gets aggravated due to mixed nature of road traffic - with pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, autorickshaws, cars, trucks and buses sharing the same space. There is a need not only to segregate fast-moving and slow-moving vehicles, and heavy and light vehicles, but also enforce speed limit on fast-moving vehicles....


Behaviour of road users - the way people drive, cycle or walk on the road - is the most common source of road injuries and fatalities. Factors such as age and experience of driver, alcohol and drug use, fatigue, acute psychological stress and enforcement of traffic laws are the key determinants of accident and fatality risk.

(From 'Road Traffic Accidents in India: Issues and Challenges', ScienceDirect)