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Old 10th October 2008, 09:47   #1
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India tops global list of deaths in road accidents

India tops global list of deaths in road accidents-India-The Times of India

I got one article in TOI today which says India has highest number of Road Fatalities in the world.

Also, I can see one good news (In discussion phase) for making Airbag, ABS mandatory in all cars.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:03   #2
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No wonder as India is also probably the most (2nd officially though) populous country in the world!

Probably a better statistic would be fatalities per million or something like that.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:07   #3
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The news is sad.

But the worst part of this article is " making ABS mandatory , etc. ". Sure these things are welcome, but then does this mean or rather guarantee that accidents will reudce ?

I read somewhere that from 2007/2008, India will have crash test, etc just like european countries as mandaotry. Well, they are yet to be implemented. And I am surprised that even with relatively less number of vehicles in India, we manage to top the chart.

The problem here is ( lack of ) commonsense and discipline from the road users. The most dangerous thing on the raod is the human behind the steering wheel, handlebar or simply walking. Till the human being himself improves, this situation is not going to imporve.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:10   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joslicx View Post
No wonder as India is also probably the most (2nd officially though) populous country in the world!

Probably a better statistic would be fatalities per million or something like that.
True point, but if you think it through a little further --

1.
India is ahead of CHINA here!!

2.
What %age of the indian population actually owns a car??

Compare that to say, the USA.

And then compare the total amount of car owners vs fatalities.

(Ofcourse, this doesnt take into account people who get fatally hit by cars)

cya
R

Last edited by Rehaan : 10th October 2008 at 11:14.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:16   #5
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We need lane discipline and separate lanes for trucks, auto, bikes, cars and cycles.
More foot-over bridges and stringent license testing.
Reckless construction of speed-breakers & imposing a speed limit of 30km/h on bridges will not solve problems.
Remove pavement encroachments and then impose strict penalties for jaywalking.
We need laws and fines on non-working of car lights, mandatory tyre changes after tyre tread wears off to an 'x' limit, phasing out of old badly maintained cars and trucks.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:29   #6
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Wasn't this expected?

Its about time road safety becomes a priority as we are definitely heading toward a colossal disaster in terms of lives lost and crores in damaged property given the present situation.

I can think of some measures to curtail this:

1. All roads must be speed rated with signs posted at regular intervals. Users found exceeding the rated speeds must be penalised

2. Road users have grown accustomed to violating traffic signs. Severe penalties must be introduced and enforced. A black point system must be introduced whereby when a driver accumulates x points the license is suspended for three months. If he does so repeatedly the license is cancelled and vehicle confiscated.

3. People need to be educated about pedestrian crossings and jay walking must become an offence.

4. All side roads meeting a highway must have speedbreakers to prevent vehicles from entering directly onto a highway without care. Ideally all such roads must enter into a parallel road which merges with the highway.

5. Drivers found under the influence of alcohol need to be imprisoned for a week with a fine.

6. Rest areas should be created by the highway authorities. Sadly the Reliance pumps were such a brilliant initiative that ran aground. It was far ahead of its times and a boon to travellers.

I'm sure many more steps can be taken, lets add on and perhaps TBHP can start a road safety campaign right away on the site!
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:34   #7
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Fine with vehicle safety, but foremost they need to enforce a little discipline among the masses, and the figures will be halved. We need some honest policing here. Do the pedestrians follow the rules either?
Accidents are bound to happen. We need better emergency services at hospitals so that people don't bleed to death.

I wonder how many urban areas allow anything above a crawl of 30kmph.
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Old 10th October 2008, 12:05   #8
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most of them are two wheeler riders and pedestrains .. what can abs and airbags do .
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Old 10th October 2008, 12:15   #9
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The best method among all are Self Restraint, Education, Respect to other's lives. If all these come in any individual then it is highly there is any chance for accident.

I have been to certain other Asian countries, where I can see how much the drivers have self restraint, education and respect to others. When you cross zebra crossing car drivers simply stop and wait for pedestrians to cross. This gives feel good factor and you give respectful smile to driver(s) who stops for you and we feel perfectly safe over there.

This is not situation in India. I doubt how many Indian drivers know the meaning of zebra crossing. Proper driving educational campaign is necessity of the hour.

I hope one day we will have same environment of respect on roads in India. Lets hope for the best.
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Old 10th October 2008, 12:30   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rehaan View Post
True point, but if you think it through a little further --

1.
India is ahead of CHINA here!!

2.
What %age of the indian population actually owns a car??

Compare that to say, the USA.

And then compare the total amount of car owners vs fatalities.

(Ofcourse, this doesnt take into account people who get fatally hit by cars)

cya
R
And the amount(Distance) of proper roads
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Old 10th October 2008, 12:30   #11
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with you Anuj but this is a fact that even educated souls behave maniacally on the roads. It is blatant disrespect to a life in general and i aint sure when will the offenders be it @ signal stops, zebra crossings etc learn. Having said that, i have noticed and infact been on the receiving side of pedestrians crossing @ will when there is a right of way for the vehicles @ zebra crossings. Its a "you break the rule and so can we too" attitude and just imagine when a vehicle having a right of way is cruising and these moronic pedestrains walk with a look on their face that quite obviously reveals "Damn you moron can't you see I am crossing the road ". I mean when there is a stop signal even for them they hardly follow it be it vehicles or pedestrains.
The basic discipline of following a traffic rule is inherently lost among many of us and i cannot see that change will happen ever in India. Its the "sab chaltha hain" attitude and boy o boy will we ever learn?
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Old 10th October 2008, 12:35   #12
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making Airbags mandatory is a Good initiatives, but who will ensure that the driver/passenger uses the seat beat, because with out seat belts airbags are lethal
In my opinion educating the road users is the most important one, with out that all these initiatives are of very little use
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Old 10th October 2008, 12:47   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anujmishra View Post
Also, I can see one good news (In discussion phase) for making Airbag, ABS mandatory in all cars.
For a start, I would like to see an India-NCAP program equal to or better than the ones mentioned here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...utomobile.html
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Old 10th October 2008, 13:49   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DKG View Post
Wasn't this expected?

3. People need to be educated about pedestrian crossings and jay walking must become an offence.
All the other points seem to be 'possible' (well sort of).
this is quite interesting. There are too many 'people' here. How will you plan do this for a mass population?
There are already too many drunk, underage, unroadworthy drivers/vehichles. How do we correct these and keep the next uncorrupted?? Repairing bad roads alone will take ages which is a direct step that can be taken.
i would love to see all the points happen. But don't think so. Govt (quite interestingly) are moving towards manufacturers to vehchles more safe (how about the millions of Nanos going to be released??). How about the people/road/licensing etc made more safe?

(quite sadly nothing is going to happen. can guarantee that.)
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Old 10th October 2008, 14:12   #15
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Airbags,ABS,etc are all useless until road ethics and proper driving tests aren't implemented.

I'm all for more safety features in a car and i hope some day every car on Indian roads is equipped with airbags,abs,etc but the larger problem lies in the person behind the wheel in most cases.
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