[cypher]

Originally Posted by Dose

The real issue is not car design but road design.

Our roads are designed to kill : no lane/edge markers, no dividers, unmarked speed breakers, no shoulders, people sleeping & living on the roads, etc.

The only reason that the death toll is not higher, is that there is still a very small % of people using vehicles. As that increases, things will only get worst.

[ac 427]

I have a very controversial point, Are the drivers responsible for people (pedestrians)who are not bothered about their safety ??

I mean I have personally come accros people who cross the highway like they highway was meant to cross the roads.

If a certain individual is not concerned / bothered about his own safety is someone else responsible for it ?

AC

[Mpower]

I dont think we can blame any one single person or thing. Pretty much everything related to our transportation system is a disaster..... poorly planned, poorly goverened and to add to it, the people dont trust the system and therefore do not follow any rules (ie., if they know it exists). What we need is a major overhaul.

[4x4addict]

India has over a billion people. So when a bus hits a car. There's 150 people in the bus, 20 in the car and 200 people on foot around the accident. go figure ..

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

Just a related observation on this subject that is very close to my heart (having lost several friends and relatives to avoidable accidents).
I think more people have died sitting inside Sumos on the highways than by cross-border terrorists. That vehicle just crumbles like a paper bag in an impact killing everyone inside. Do you know of any Sumo accident survivor?

absolutely true... I have seen quite a number of accidents on the highways due to Sumos running at breakneck speed and then losing control.

[ramkya1]

On Saturday, we were going to our children's school, 7 am, on the SP Ring road near Bophal, we saw a dead body of a man, fully smashed-up, open and bleeding, not even covered and police had just reached the spot, a hit and run. Mercifully enough, on our return the body was covered. Was an unnerving sight, my wife was very disturbed, took leave and stayed at home that day!!!! Was a horrible day indieed.

Saw on the TOI that we have overtaken China in numbe of Road accidents !!!! This is alarming...... is there nothing we can do?

3 lakh accidents a year, 60,,000 deaths

Experts say 70% of accidents are beacuse of poor roads and bad driving habits.

Wonder what we at TBHP can do to reduce the accident rates. Some things that come to mind are:

1. Signal Clearly
2. Always drive on the right side of the road.
3. Use Horns liberally (may be controverial, but I think this helps reduce accidents)
4. Ensure your headlights are bright enought, change reflectors, bulbs periodically and when needed.
5. Check brakes, brake lights etc., regularly

There are many, many other things we can do... can we list them?

I feel so frustrated and helpless, there must be something we can do to reduce accidents

Mods: if such a thread is already there, please merge.

--Ramky

[Rajesh Rawal]

One more addition :- 6) Always drive with headlights on low beam ,its a pain to see those high beams from the incoming vehicles on the highways (specially during the rains)....

[king_julian]

0) Top of the list should be defensive driving - after an accident occurs, there is no point in trying to decide whose fault it is, if you end up losing life or limb. Instead of making that 80-20 right turn, it's better to wait for a few seconds and be 100% sure.

7) Check your blind spot before changing lanes or making turns, in addition to checking your mirrors.

Thanks,
Amit.

[niks_devil666]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Always drive on the right side of the road.

? wrong choice of words ? or you wanted to say "left"

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by niks_devil666

? wrong choice of words ? or you wanted to say "left"

Devil,

Thank you for the correction.

What I wanted to convey was: Always drive on the "Correct" side of the road.

The correct side, again may not be the most effective way of driving in India

---

[aaggoswami]

I think that figure is higher than 60,000. It is close to 1 lakh per year.
I am not surprised about this.

I am in college and due to academic falls, I am studying with those who just are nearing the stage of car learning. Their attitude is " take the car and start driving and you will automatically learn ". My friend with whom I am doing project told me he is riding bike without license since one year.

This is from educated mass. Imagine what is the real situation all over India. People literally cant engage first gear in bike/scooter/car and are granted license. Recently I went with my friend to RTO for his exam of car driver and one girl was not able to even get Alto rolling and was given license.

There is only one officer who literally takes the drivers to small streets and even while parking if indicator is not started, the candidate is out. But he was not present. By paying bribe and using contacts the training school and other dishonest officers keep him away.
When I started speaking that we are supposed to understand what are we doing, people including the examining officer were laughing at me.

This is from a relatively small city, think about RTO where they are handling more than 100-150 candidates a day. So what can be outcome ? Obviously highest number of accidents.

I believe it is mostly the driver who makes error in the first place in case of highway accidents and in case of city, it is the cyclists and pedestrians along with general indiscipline about turning, cars not shifting into left lane if they are slow, cutting others lane by two wheelers are major contributors. We lack driving sense.
We just cant change the RTO functions, but better road sense at educational level will help. Also about the training schools. They should stop corruption and improve. Maruti driving school is the best example.

[Spitfire]

+1 to what aaggoswami said. The RTO is riddled with the highest corruption in any dept. No wonder we see so many accidents.

[watashi75]

I have seen the handbook given by Maruti Driving School. Really informative and contains many practical scenario based questions. Unfortunately none of that is required to pass the RTO written exam.

By the way, I think this thread needs to be moved to Street Experience section.

[anujmishra]

There are many things to do. There are many steps have to take. There is need for education among masses. There is need to understand importance of safety and much more...

I am ready to take part/contribute in any such initiative if team-bhp or any of its respected member think of.

[raju2512]

Please see this article in TOI

Welcome - Times Of India ePaper


1,14,590 died in road accidents in India in 2007 @ 13 deaths per hour. The second highest is China @ 89,455 deaths.

Let's make the roads safer. Let's drive carefully.