[Rehaan]

Some quick infographics for an overview:

Middle-income countries have only half the world's vehicles, but 80% of the road fatalities



Strict anti-DUI enforcement has been shown to reduce traffic deaths by 20% in some cases



5% drop in speed = 30% drop in fatalities!



Choose a good helmet (link)



Seat belts reduce the chance of death by upto 50%. Here's proof


Probably the most impressive (or scariest) figures are those for correctly used Child Seats

[Rehaan]

India Specific:

Notice the upward trend on the graph. Most other countries, especially the developed ones have a downward sloping graph.


India is in the #1 position for traffic deaths, that too by a huge margin!

#1 - India - 130,037 deaths
#2 - China - 70,134 deaths
#3 - Brazil - 36,499 deaths
#4 - USA - 32,885 deaths

Some Information Regarding Helmet use on 2-wheelers:

The Stats:

• WHO reports state that non-helmeted users of motorized two-wheelers are three times more likely to sustain head injuries in a crash.
• Every year, about 60 to 70 women die due to head injuries sustained in Road accidents involving two wheelers (According to Public Interest Litigation).
• WHO data shows that almost a quarter of victims of road traffic collisions who require admission to a hospital facility have sustained a traumatic brain injury. Sources reported that 30-40% of all injuries that come in to hospitals are head injuries.
• City police have registered a total of 24,380 cases for not wearing helmets, Total 147 lives lost on city roads last year, 65 persons were motorcycle riders and pillion riders without helmets.

The Helmets:

• According to market reports, roughly 13.8 million two-wheelers were sold in India in 2012.
• "There are more than 100 manufacturers of ISI-approved helmets in the country, although non-ISI helmet makers number a couple of thousands. The estimated demand for helmets is around 90 million pieces per annum while the total capacity of ISI helmets is not more than 10 million pieces," claimed Rajeev Kapoor, Managing Director Steelbird Hi- Tech India Ltd.
• Though the Supreme Court in its June 2010 order had made it compulsory for every motor cycle seller to give a quality helmet at the time of selling motor bikes this is hardly followed.
• Traffic Police officials believe that more than 85% of helmets used by two-wheeler riders across India do not meet ISI standards. "People don't buy quality helmets because the price ranges between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000. So, life in India is cheaper than helmets!"

Source : Press release


Misc India Stats:


Read the full report : http://www.who.int/violence_injury_p.../en/index.html

[Dr.Abhi]

all most all the time i have seen people wearing helmet just for the sake of it, means they never fasten helmet clip below the chin. in that case, if collision happens, the helmet will automatically slip off the head due to momentum and the whole purpose of wearing helmet is forfeited.
Pity, even our traffic personnel dont bother/ know the reality,

[satyaanveshi]

Originally Posted by Dr.Abhi

all most all the time i have seen people wearing helmet just for the sake of it, means they never fasten helmet clip below the chin.

Oh, that's nothing. In TN, it's common to see bikers riding with the helmet kept on the fuel tank!

[rohanjf]

When the government reads this report, they may try to fix what seems to be the most common cause of accidents: speed.

Unfortunately, the authorities will not dig deeper into finding the root causes of accidents. If all vehicles in one lane of a highway move at the same speed, will there ever be accidents? Lower speed limit should be enforced as much as the upper limit.

Most importantly, the police force needs to be trained to be proactive. Wherever we see, the police is only reactive. They rarely try to prevent a mishap (be it minor or major). Instead, they wait for the mishap to occur, and then try to solve it!

[9thsphinx]

What an eye-opener!

I learnt to always wear a seat belt while I was living abroad. After coming back to India, whenever I took the driver seat, I always used to tell the passengers in my car to buckle up - even people in the backseat and they though I was being over-critical. Looking at the facts mentioned above on reducing the risk of fatal injuries only by wearing a seat belt, I can only stress how important it is to follow this simple rule.

Lives lost due to traffic crashes are getting common in India.

Please wear a seat belt guys. Seat belts save lives!

[mayankjha1806]

This is an awesome report, everyone knows Death rates due to accidents in India are high, How high is answered by those staggering figures. We are atleast twice as much as any body else on this planet, that is something that needs to sink in, into every driver (Car, Two Wheeler, Cycle, Trucks and others).

Seat Belts, Helmets and Drinking are basic. Once we get them sorted (100% compliance achieved) across the country then we can look at other factors like ABS+Airbags etc that can reduce this further.

Now every-time i see a acquaintance without a Helmet, Seat Belt or Drunk i would recite these figures like mantra. Hopefully this can make some impact.

[goingelectric]

Excellent find, Rehaan. Thank you for sharing. Disturbing, to say the least, when it comes to India. What suprises me even more is the fact that all relevant traffic rules seem to exist but the enforcement of these rules/laws seem to be weak. I wonder if it is lack of enforcement personnel, training of enforcement personnel or just outright apathy on the part of enforcement personnel.

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

...
Seat Belts, Helmets and Drinking are basic. Once we get them sorted (100% compliance achieved) across the country then we can look at other factors like ABS+Airbags etc that can reduce this further.

Now every-time i see a acquaintance without a Helmet, Seat Belt or Drunk i would recite these figures like mantra. Hopefully this can make some impact.

I would actually go one more step back, and say that simple traffic rules, like "keep left", or "red means stop" are the basics. Our pathetic lack of adherence to these rules must be addressed first - baby needs to crawl before walking.

Kudos to you for trying to drill some sense into people you come across being silly about safety.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Dr.Abhi

all most all the time i have seen people wearing helmet just for the sake of it, means they never fasten helmet clip below the chin. in that case, if collision happens, the helmet will automatically slip off the head due to momentum and the whole purpose of wearing helmet is forfeited.
Pity, even our traffic personnel dont bother/ know the reality,

The current fashion is actually tucking in the cell phone inside the helmet and yap away on the phone and zig zag through traffic oblivious to other road users in the world. How do bikers expect understanding and compassion towards them when they behave with so much recklessness. The statistics clearly shows the highest amount of fatalities are those who are riding two wheelers and they can never claim that it is never their fault. Most of the time it is and many a time they are the cause of fatal accidents where others lose their lives due to their recklessness. This does not absolve other dangerous drivers whatever vehicle they drive but bikers seem to be taking the cake day by day. I constantly get honked by bikers from both my left and right forcefully trying to overtake me at the same time even though there is absolutely no space for them to go ahead. I wonder how it would get into their silly heads that buying or riding a bike doesn't entitle them to reaching their destination faster any which way they want . In fact if they want to show so much bravery go join the armed forces.

[amit]

Very interesting report!

It's interesting to note that of all the countries that have a law for seat belts & helmet's, only 25% report good enforcement while for the child seat restraint law it's just 9%! What matter's is enforcement of the law and not just having one in place. This is where the western countries have excelled while we have failed miserably.

Is there something wrong with the map showing the countries having a child restraint law? It's not covering North America (USA & Canada) & Australia.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

The current fashion is actually tucking in the cell phone inside the helmet and yap away on the phone and zig zag through traffic oblivious to other road users in the world. How do bikers expect understanding and compassion towards them when they behave with so much recklessness. The statistics clearly shows the highest amount of fatalities are those who are riding two wheelers and they can never claim that it is never their fault. Most of the time it is and many a time they are the cause of fatal accidents where others lose their lives due to their recklessness. This does not absolve other dangerous drivers whatever vehicle they drive but bikers seem to be taking the cake day by day.

I have always believed that the only way out to curb this menace is to refuse insurance for both vehicle and rider in the event of an accident if the rider is found to be without a helmet. Doesn't matter if it's his fault or not. Even life insurance should be covered under the above rule. Problem is in our country this will give the cops another opportunity to make money!

[Santoshbhat]

Sad to see our country ranking so high in such road fatality stats. I agree poor enforcement is one of the main reasons why people have such scant respect for rules, which in the end results in such high rate of accidents and fatalities. But why don't people put more value on their own lives?

The main problem is as a nation we have got into a culture of not respecting rules, not just traffic rules but all rules in general. 'Rules are made to be broken' seems to be our national slogan. I don't know what its going to take to bring about change.

[GTO]

How did the instances of drunk driving drop by more than 2/3rds in Mumbai?

Why do cars on the Mumbai-Pune expressway now watch their speed?

When did manufacturers start kitting all new cars with seat-belts?

How did bikers suddenly start wearing helmets (in some cities)?

Two words - LAW ENFORCEMENT

It's in the hands of the government to ensure safety on our roads. Strict enforcement & steep fines are the only way out in a country that is used to breaking the law.

3 other recommendations that can go a long way:

- ABS made mandatory on all new cars (similar to the recent proposal for CVs)

- Rigorous training & testing before issuing driver licences

- Accurate annual health checkup for all vehicles on the road (instead of a PUC every 6 months). This checkup should include tyres, lights etc.

[vb-saan]

Rehaan, Thanks a lot for sharing this

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Seat belts reduce the chance of death by upto 50%. Here's proof


Probably the most impressive (or scariest) figures are those for correctly used Child Seats

When it comes to driving/travelling, these two are probably the most ignored safety aspects. If properly enforced, I believe our fatality numbers will get reduced by 50-75%. The importance of rear passenger seat belts is quite well-illustrated in the picture.

[hellmet]

We can go on and yap all we want here but those that need to act on these figures don't bother because they're always moved around in SUVs with security. Only they have the power to change people en masse. We can educate one or two close friends or relatives but no one else would listen to a stranger's advice.