[ajaiD]

New report from the SaveLife foundation states overspeeding to be the main reason behind majority of crashes during the nationwide lockdown; 140 deaths recorded.

With the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak necessitating a nationwide lockdown, road traffic in India has seen a dramatic drop. Most prefer to stay indoors, only venturing out to buy essentials and for medical reasons, but despite a majority of the population not getting behind the wheel, India recorded over 600 road crashes in the first two phases of the lockdown.

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...ockdown-417202



This is truly a 'doh' moment, I mean most of these should have had a covid passe and if not they should have just took the punishment "Sit ups, etc nothing major that I have heard off".

Instead people are driving on cops making silly U turns among other stupid things. Really disappointing actions when taken in a macro view.

Note to Mods: I know this would be a better fit in "Road Safety" section but given the scope of the situation and the high number of accidents I thought it important to highlight this issue.

[SS-Traveller]

Nothing surprising about it, considering that our drivers have this pathological urge to floor the throttle the minute they see an empty stretch of road. Automated speed cameras in Delhi are witness to this:

10 speed challans issued every minute during lockdown, essential service providers fined multiple times

Can’t lock down Delhi’s speed devils, police issue 4.5 lakh speeding challans in lockdown

And yes, I too think this thread needs to go into the Road Safety section.

[SJQIL87]

For some people, clear road means a testing track to test top speeds of their vehicles. In Kerala, a guy got arrested after cops caught him rash driving on a just delivered swift during lock down.
Also I could see so many riders taking U turn without looking both sides. Others should take care for them.

[srini1785]

No comments :

Porsche Driver Out On The Road Amid Lockdown Made To Do Sit-Ups

Indore lockdown: The city security council members flagged down the Porsche car and asked the driver why he was out on the road amid the coronavirus lockdown

https://www.ndtv.com/cities/coronavi...ckdown-2218390

[Sutripta]

A week into L1, I had to go someplace. Though the roads were essentially empty, a high percentage of (the very limited number of) cars on the road were being very badly driven. I mean badly driven, not fast or rash.

Possibly people who are used to being driven round had to take the wheel for themselves after ages.

Sutripta

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by ajaiD

140 deaths recorded.

600 road crashes

Let's look at the big picture:


On any normal pre-COVID day, India had an average of 405 deaths per day because of road accidents.


So in this 40 day time period where there are currently only 140 deaths, the number would normally be 16,200 deaths!

The 600 road crashes would instead be 50,960 crashes. (1,274/day)


In other words:

Overall LESS people are dying in India everyday, THANKS TO the Coronavirus lockdown.

The daily COVID death count has not come even half-way to the 405 deaths/day that road accidents cause:




However, that's not to underestimate the potential COVID has to cause much, much more deaths than road accidents ever did.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Let's look at the big picture

I don't think anyone can know what's killing more, the lockdown or the virus. The savings from the accidents will definitely get equalised from people dying from other diseases or even hunger/ malnutrition. This may not happen at once, but in weeks/ months to come.

[turbospooler]

I am not really surprised.
This reinforces the need for 2 important things:
1) Vigorous Testing while giving out licenses. This will ensure that any Tom, Dick or Harry doesn't get a license, but appropriately trained people hold a license to drive.
2) Automated challan generators. We Indians value authority only when they are watching. As many policemen were redirected for other policing work, people took to the road thinking they were on a race-track.

What else would you get when untrained and unsupervised people are driving on the road!

[mindhunter]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

However, that's not to underestimate the potential COVID has to cause much, much more deaths than road accidents ever did.

While covid-19 certainly has the potential to cause much more deaths than road accidents or any other reason that we can think of but I think the other effects of this pandemic are gonna affect everybody whether one gets infected by the virus or not. The major effect on economy will be felt by everyone on this planet. The social life post this pandemic will never be the same. I think the travelogue section of team BHP is not going to see much action this year.

[GTO]

I have stepped out a couple of times in the area to pick up essentials. Can tell you one thing = the scene is absolutely like it is late at night. That's the best way to explain it. People think they are alone on the road, traffic lights aren't working, no one is cautious at junctions and cars are driven faster than usual.

Just two differences from late night = better visibility + no drunk driving (hopefully).

[turbospooler]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just two differences from late night = better visibility + no drunk driving (hopefully).

This point reminded me of one more reason for lower accident rates.

Due to liquor not being sold in lock-down, many people would be driving in an alert state.
Though the number of accidents is still not acceptable when only essential people are on the road, lower drunk driving must've reduced the number of accidents too

[MegaWhat]

A colleague drove down from Sangli to Pune two days back. His report was that of empty roads, but a large portion of the few travellers driving rather rash, especially ones on bikes.
In that journey he encountered 4 accidents involving 4 wheelers one of which was fatal to the passengers of a vehicle.
I used to think congestion on roads could be driving people to "lose it" and drive rash, but I guess that's not always the case.

[prateekchanana]

Originally Posted by GTO

I have stepped out a couple of times in the area to pick up essentials. Can tell you one thing = the scene is absolutely like it is late at night. That's the best way to explain it. People think they are alone on the road, traffic lights aren't working, no one is cautious at junctions and cars are driven faster than usual.

Just two differences from late night = better visibility + no drunk driving (hopefully).

Summed it up very well. Every time I go out to get some essentials, I can say I am instinctively more careful at junctions than I am normally even at late nights because of how I have seen the scary speeds people are driving at crossings.

[BenjiRoss]

After the easing of lockdown restrictions on alcohol sales apparently road traffic accidents due to drunken driving have gone up. Is that true? Is it directly linked to alcohol or just to the rapid increase in traffic over the last few days.

[NiInJa]

For most of us driving has become so common that our brain has sort of got used to it as a habit. Is it possible that we may forget some things ? I wonder if there will be a sudden spike in road accidents for a short time when the lock-down is lifted. It happens with me a lot of time, my brain does not actually remember the password but the keystroke sequence when I log into my computer everyday. And if I am opening my laptop after a long break, say after coming from a week long vacation, I have to struggle to remember what the password was for a second or so.