[ais]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

But it still requires the right attitude for those in power, and remarkably perhaps those on the ground so to speak.

In India, the powers that be generally don't drive. Lawmakers, traffic police commissioners, judges have drivers. Some may- I've heard Uddav Thackeray drives himself to work. So I wonder who will take the initiative to change attitudes?

[ACM]

I feel the report is ill conceived.

We are the most populous country in the world so PAR for the world would mean max number of people in the world per 100 dying in India. Any number below our population % of 17 is actually something that makes us below PAR and hence better than 50% of the world.

Dumb report. Improvements are needed but not sensationalism. Proper perspectives must be placed for a balanced report.

[OffRoadFun]

Infrastructure, enforcement, educating people, India needs massive push in these areas to make our roads safer. Currently, for most parts, it is frustrating to drive in India and dangerous.

Make no mistake and let's not hide behind some political correctness. We don't value human life, vast majority is unaware of consequences of running these machines in an improper manner on the road. They have been exposed to automobiles but are illiterates in terms of understanding that these machines come with an operating procedure and a required minimum infrastructure. If these are not met, it's a statistically certainty that disproportionate number of people will die. In other words, regulation around traffic. What we have is fatalism on roads. Headlines which fuel biases. Speeding car kills biker or speeding truck rams into bike without hardly anyone ever questioning what was the cause of the accident or who was at fault. A populace which will swing the votes for 10kg of rice for a month, forgets when tens of people die in a rail or road accident and an ex-gratia amount of 5L makes everyone think it was a destiny and mouths are shut without ever pushing for an inquiry or learning lesson on how to avoid that in future.

Millions of bikes are sold every year and millions of bogus licenses are granted every year and vast majority in heartlands lack any thought or ability to conclude this will lead to lost lives (statistically) and everyone thinks it will not be one them.

Our lack of awareness regarding safety is glaring. I was once working in HYD and during conversation I mentioned I feel unsafe in the office building as builder had violated law as there was NO fire exit on our floor. The people in the team looked at me as if I was making an issue of something which is trivial. And these are white collared people.

I once called an A/C mechanic for repair and for the repair he jumped on wall a 2' x 3' on 11th floor. I asked his team to have a safety rope around his waist while working and they all looked at me bewildered, amused who is suspecting their ability to repair ACs while doing such (dangerous) stunts.

No wonder little thought goes in safety and "chalta hai" attitude prevails leading to so many casualties despite having such low per capita ownership of cars in India.

[anjan_c2007]

Pedestrians and two wheeler riders are road accident victims of either their own fallacies and "roadbatics" or that of unruly and rash drivers of other vehicles who knock them down.

The laws are stringent, but implementation is weak and these laws are either manipulated or broken by traffic users or are not implemented and also overcome by corrupt law enforcers to benefit erring car drivers.

The roads, especially expressways proliferating snd are becoming driveable for speeds of above 100 kmph with ease. But look at the amount of Global NCAP ZERO and ONE Star awarded cars moving thereon. And given the fact, that our largest carmakers care two hoots for those NCAP stars, its no surprise that we have so many loss of lives. And car-buyers patronise these ZERO and ONE star cars awarding them the largest sales figures.

It's a vicious circle involving the government, the road users right from pedestrians to multiwheeled truck drivers, and the car makers who make unsafe cars plus the car buyers who buy such stuff. So long as this vicious circle is alive and kicking, we will be bombarded with such accidents and death figures.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by TusharK

India remains at the top among 174 countries...

The discussions on this thread, and how almost everyone is quite angry about the statistics not reflecting the real picture, were interesting to read. We as a country do like to project ourselves as excelling in every sphere of life. For a report like this, though, I would have thought India features at the bottom of the list (poorest performance), but here too, we love to say we are "at the top". Oh, well...

[fjcruiser08]

Originally Posted by subincb

Near to 18% of world population having just 13% of road fatality is not very bad atleast on statistics level.

Look at the size of the driving population and the total number of vehicles on the road. India has a minuscule (relatively) number of vehicles on road but the highest fatalities.

[subincb]

Originally Posted by fjcruiser08

Look at the size of the driving population and the total number of vehicles on the road. India has a minuscule (relatively) number of vehicles on road but the highest fatalities.

People commute irrespective of owning vehicles or driving. Buses, bullock carts, cycle, auto, taxi moped all counts

[madhavgpai]

Originally Posted by glovins2004

I’m so paranoid to drive through highways with tall bushes on the median. Who know what will jump out of it at any moment. I had a nightmare during one my trips few years back but by god’s grace I came out unscratched. when such situations still linger around along with all possible insane traffic sense, this news is no surprise

YES. I tend to drive one lane away from the bushy median when I can't see anything on the other side. Helps with the anxiety if not absolute safety.

[careind]

Originally Posted by fjcruiser08

Look at the size of the driving population and the total number of vehicles on the road. India has a minuscule (relatively) number of vehicles on road but the highest fatalities.

The fatalities should include the non-driving population as well, since most of the fatalities would happen to the non-driving population.
It is mostly the pedestrians and the two wheeler riders who are the victims in fatal accidents involving cars and other bigger vehicles.

In that aspect, I would think India is still below the curve.
Sure, we can improve the stats but the sheer numbers in population brings about its own challenges on implementing and enforcing which should actually bring in a bigger standard deviation.

[supermax]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Ditto with road accidents & safety. Increase in automation & driver assistance is the only solution to fix the problem. Overall, the automobile industry is heading in the right direction - with increased adoption of ADAS/self-driving etc.

While your statement is correct about the coal mining and to an extent with the airline industry, you are totally off the mark when you extend that argument to driving on the road. Increase in automation and driver assistance is at best an add-on, and can never and should never be viewed as a complete solution, let alone the only solution to fix the problem. Sweden started it's extremely ambitious 'Zero Vision' plan in 1997 to ensure that the number of fatalities on the road should be 0. As Jeroen notes in his response, as long as a society has an attitude that a certain number of fatalities cannot be avoided, we'll never ever get to zero fatalities. Sweden's zero vision plan is not centered around vehicle automation or driver replacements. Instead, it has focused on making drivers better. The focus has been on raising the bar, making it harder to get a driver's license, and to ensure that each and every driving license aspirant is given not only practical on the road training, but also several hours of mandatory lectures about risk evaluation and how to recognize and avoid risk taking behavior. These lectures have been noted to have contributed to fewer fatal crashes with younger drivers, as a section specifically focuses on younger drivers who are more prone to peer-pressure and prone to driving dangerously due to being egged on by their peers. If India initiates similar measures, I'm fairly certain that the fatalities can be brought down significantly, even with the current standards of roads.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

But even today, attitude is the biggest contributing factor in all these industries. A pilot with the wrong attitude, a welder with the wrong attitude, an oil rig worker with the wrong attitude, or a mine worker with the wrong attitude is going to get themselves and or co-workers killed.

Some of the responses on this thread remind me of myself 40 years ago and similar situations. Until people acknowledge that it is not normal to die on the job or the road. Or make excuses for it (it's only a small percentage) you are going to have a very tough time making any meaningful changes.

When it comes to road safety, there is a huge gung-ho factor that needs to be addressed. Most male drivers feel they drive perfectly safe. Not only that, but they secretly believe they are at least as good if not better a driver as Max.

Gung-ho is a killer everywhere. Whether you fly a plane, drive a car, ride a bicycle or do some DIY on the roof of your house. And it is all between the ears, wrong attitude and a completely irrational self-esteem and self-assessment of one's capabilities and the situation at hand.

Jeroen

Can't agree more! Excellent points, as always.
In Sweden, we have a mandatory three hour lecture on risky behavior on the roads, which includes videos which drive home the same points; a bunch of teenagers doing some gung-ho driving, leading to a death and a lifetime of wheelchair use. Scary as shit, but very effective. They also talk about recognizing peer pressure and avoiding giving into it. A major section in that 3 hour lecture is also devoted to alcohol and drug use, but also driving while sick/sleep deprived. When I see posts by members here claiming proudly that they drive 10+ hours without breaks, I don't know what to think. Driving without adequate rest (the determination of tiredness is made by the police, as there's no chemical/medical test for tiredness) is treated exactly like driving under influence, and is therefore a big deterrent to potential law breakers.

[anjan_c2007]

Some analyses by veteran auto journalist Mr Bob Rupani, who has written his blog discussing the issue threadbare.

It's been reported that the majority of deaths took place in rural areas. I see two reasons for this. One that the medical facilities and trauma care in our rural areas is very limited as is the availability of ambulances and medical staff. Secondly there are hardly any driving schools or RTO's (Regional Transport Offices) in rural areas. So our rural folk rarely get any formal driver training and many don't even have licenses, because they do not feel the need to go get them from the bigger towns and cities.

Please also note that the vast majority who died were on two-wheelers. This is understandable because two-wheelers provide the least physical protection. But what is not acceptable is that most two wheeler users in our country do not wear helmets! I will also stick my neck out and bet that a large number of two-wheeler riders in rural India don't have a license and nor do they know basic rules or the technical aspects of riding. Most just learn from relatives or friends or by watching others.

The link:-
https://www.overdrive.in/news-cars-a...ties-in-india/

[SS-Traveller]

https://deshgujarat.com/2023/12/20/s...on-wrong-side/

If anyone thinks India's road safety index will improve any time soon, this is why it won't.