[jinojohnt]

I wonder how the data was collected. If the data is based on the FIRs of road accidents, I doubt the accuracy because of the following reasons:

1. Many of the accidents go un-reported.

2. If drunken driving is a major cause of accidents in the West, it could also mean that drunk driving is caught and recorded properly in the West.
A very small percentage of drunken driving in India actually gets recorded. Most of the drunk people get away by paying bribes.
Reason: - The insurance company won't pay for damages if you were drunk while causing an accident. If a person is hospitalized because of this type of accident, compensation would be delayed if insurance is denied. (The driver would fight till the end if he needs to pay the compensation from his pocket.) Normally, the 'victim' also doesn't like this.

3. In an accident involving two vehicles, the police writes the FIR in such a way that the driver was 'speeding and driving in a rash manner causing harm to others'. This is to help the 'victim' with insurance. When I protested at such an instance for my accident 6 years back, the Police replied, "Don't worry, this is just a term that we use in the FIR. If we don't write like this, the court would dismiss the case without even calling you".

4. Nobody ever writes in the FIR that the pedestrian jumped in front of the vehicle, even if it was the pedestrian's fault. This is done to help the 'poor victim' with insurance. The obvious choice would be to write "driver was speeding".

[MX6]

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

Reason: - The insurance company won't pay for damages if you were drunk while causing an accident. If a person is hospitalized because of this type of accident, compensation would be delayed if insurance is denied. (The driver would fight till the end if he needs to pay the compensation from his pocket.) Normally, the 'victim' also doesn't like this.

Don't think that's the reason for not reporting drunk driving. We still don't have standardised and scientific measurement process to assess drunk driving. In West DUI is dealt probably next to terrorism. Here, the laws are warped. Crime committed under influence of alcohol gives the criminal a benefit of doubt. It's not construed culpable homicide or brutal rape if the person is under influence of alcohol and is not meeted out stringent punishments.
So in a way, if one is drunk then the alcohol is supposed to have committed the crime and not the person and hence the criminal gets a lesser sentence in India than in the west.

Legal friends can comment!

[srishiva]

What if everyone starts driving as per rules? Will they be penalized? The great people of this country need to stop blaming authorities and follow some self-discipline.

[prateek99]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

I would expect driver error to be the lowest percentage. Most drivers are very conservative in their driving habits. With car prices more than 2 years salary and poor insurance support, no one is willing to risk damage to the car.

I second that.

Indian mentality is 'No problem if i get hurt, but my car shouldn't get a scratch'.

For that to happen, some one must punch the driver through the window.

Of course accidents also happen due to poor road conditions where you have to concentrate on the road rather than other drivers around you.
lack of adequate driver training is compensated by greed and fear of car damage.
inadequate law enforcement, inadequate infrastructure and warnings/boards to make the driver aware of driving conditions may have been the picture 10 years back. Personally I think India has one of the best road systems in the world

We probably have higher mortality rate because of the use of vehicles with lower safety features.

We, as a country, are on a product acceptance point where we are a little tolerant towards lack of safety features.
Airbags nahi hai to bhi chala lenge.

[wildsdi5530]

Do we really need airbags and ABS and Spoilers and pedestrian safety systems and like?
How many of us actually wear seatbelts everytime we drive? Even if it's just around the block? Do we know that if the airbag deploys when seat belts are not fastened, it presents a suffocation hazard. And what's the use of ABS when our tyres have seen 50K Kms and completely bald? How many of us have spoilers as a safety feature and not for style? And PSS the biggest joke of them all. No one replaces their bumper after every minor incident. We just fit it back, do some touchup and fix it with wires.
IMHO preventing accidents by instilling road sense (in non auto users too) is more important and cheaper than so called essential safety features. No device can save an idiot with a deathwish.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by MX6

...So what say fellow bhpians?

I would say that it is due to a general lack of civic sense amongst us.

[trtraj]

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

I wonder how the data was collected. If the data is based on the FIRs of road accidents, I doubt the accuracy because of the following reasons:

4. Nobody ever writes in the FIR that the pedestrian jumped in front of the vehicle, even if it was the pedestrian's fault. This is done to help the 'poor victim' with insurance. The obvious choice would be to write "driver was speeding".

@Jino - Perfectly said. This happened to me in 2001 itself. I still remember the name of the police man Selvam in Chennai, Guindy station asked 500rs bribe and threatened me that the guy who jumped into my two wheeler is a slum guy and his group lead can do anything. Height of injustice.

Originally Posted by srishiva

What if everyone starts driving as per rules? Will they be penalized? The great people of this country need to stop blaming authorities and follow some self-discipline.

Srishiva, you are right. But i had an incident where i stopped on a signal where a Dipper lorry came rash and I was seeing from my RVMirror and could easily predict a accident and hence i jumped the signal (this was by 2:30 AM after i picked my bro from Airport). Just to save the car and my family members.

Fortunate that there was a very good official who stopped my car and booked a case "Dangerously driving". Also he said you have to pay spot fine as your car is KA registered (incident in chennai).

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

I would say that it is due to a general lack of civic sense amongst us.

True true true. I strongly agree that we (civilians) should have traffic & road sense.

I see lot of cars driven folding the ORVM's though you can use the internal rear view mirrors, how do we care about the blind spots ?

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by trtraj

I see lot of cars driven folding the ORVM's though you can use the internal rear view mirrors, how do we care about the blind spots ?

Totally agree with you, Its common even to see a lot of hi-end cars being driven with the ORVM folded in. Total morons.

Another total senseless breed of people are 2 wheeler drivers who cut in front of you without bothering to view any lane. (Not all, but a good majority).

[PVS]

Absense of a proper law-enforcement authority to enforce a sense of discipline in the motorists, lack of civic sense and adequate driving skills among motorists, and an inadequate infrastructure, coupled with inadequate/non existent warning signs for the road users, especially on the highways, are some of the main factors for the high rate of accidents in our country.

[arunkk]

I feel the facts mentioned in the report are true as they are not mentioning the total number of road accidents but the number of fatal accidents happening mostly in highways. Here driver is at fault most of the times due to rash and negligent driving.

[sgiitk]

It is fine to say that cars cost a lot of money. What about the young bulls all over riding on expensive hardware, with a bellyful of booze, thinking that they own the country. Even if they kill someone 'daddy' and/or his big purse will save them.

I say shoot or hang a few of these ruffians publicly and televise it live!

[aargee]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I say shoot or hang a few of these ruffians publicly and televise it live!

But Sir, hanging is one time affair, nothing to repent all said & done in few seconds. I would instead...
1. Positive - start something like compulsory military service for 2-3 years; expensive but effecient driving school, clean RTO etc
2. Negative - punish in such a way that he/she's unable to ride/drive for the rest of the years but lives to see others riding/driving.

Driver education is very must & it has to be started strong with a good driving school. I've been noticing these learners in "L" board car from Maruti driving school. Not even a single instance I've observed where they were doing something terrible, or causing any traffic jams be it peak or non peak hours. Something like that standard or better should be put seriously including license for LCV & HCV's.

[MX6]

@death sentence should act as deterrent to others. Even Kasab's case has become a national joke!
Your positive is good. put him in a military truck laden with ammo and making drive like a jerk in enemy territory!
But the negative can never work. How many drive with licenses in India? The only way we can ensure he can't drive is to chop off his hands and legs.

[wildsdi5530]

Going back to statics, what percentage of drivers would fall under the category of "young bulls all over riding on expensive hardware, with a bellyful of booze, thinking that they own the country".
I think that we should not make rules based on the negligible minority to apply to the general public. Such drivers should be punished. and are being punished. But discrediting all drivers is just the govt. way of saying that the ball is in our (driving citizen's) court. By endorsing this "fact" we agree that our roads, pedestrians, RTOs, etc have no room for improvement and that most accidents can be prevented by making driving illegal.
That dear sirs is not the solution.

[dr_know]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

Do we really need airbags and ABS and Spoilers and pedestrian safety systems and like?

Yes, we really do need all the things you have mentioned plus things like vehicle stability control and so forth with the kind of cars that are in the market today

How many of us actually wear seatbelts everytime we drive? Even if it's just around the block?

Irrespective of how long the drive is, you should always wear your seatbelt, if you look at statistics you can see that people that are involved in a fatal crash are usually within 10-20KM’s of their residence (as in they think it’s a short drive so it should be OK not to wear it).

Do we know that if the airbag deploys when seat belts are not fastened, it presents a suffocation hazard.

All airbag equipped cars nowadays mentions SRS along with it which means ‘Supplemental Restraint System’ i.e. and if you have not seen it already next time you are in a car with an airbag look for the notice/warning on the visor it usually mentions something to the effect that you need to use the combination of a seatbelt and an airbag. An airbag alone does not save lives, you need the combination. All current airbags are designed to deploy and contract (or deflate) to assist the driver to have view of the road or path ahead after the accident. This will ensure that a person does not face a suffocation hazard!

And what's the use of ABS when our tyres have seen 50K Kms and completely bald? How many of us have spoilers as a safety feature and not for style? And PSS the biggest joke of them all. No one replaces their bumper after every minor incident. We just fit it back, do some touchup and fix it with wires.

It is the responsibility of the vehicle operator/owner to replace the tires as wear and tear happens and also maintain the vehicle in a safe condition. Now what I have mentioned happens usually only in utopia but that’s what we should do for our own safety!

IMHO preventing accidents by instilling road sense (in non auto users too) is more important and cheaper than so called essential safety features.

I partially agree with this statement!

No device can save an idiot with a deathwish.

and I totally agree with this statement!!