[Radar]

Originally Posted by CarJunki

These issues are going nowhere and will not be resolved in next 50 years or so in India. The people who make rules have no clue. None of them drive to their offices, they are all chauffeured. People who issue licenses are not serious enough about testing the real world driving skills. Highway contractors make silly mistakes in road signage, marking and what not. Designers are not qualified enough to design infrastructure for today and tomorrow. Most of the public works department architects and engineers got degrees 30 years back and have never updated their skills after that. Manufacturers are provided really sloppy safety requirements for their cars, which they meet fully.

Root cause of all this is social and not scientific. As long as we as consumers and members of society do not change there can be no improvements possible.

We could also add an over-worked, under-equipped and untrained police that needs to be upholding these laws to the mix as well. Although I sympathize with the plight of the cops in some areas of Mumbai and the amount of work they do in our extreme conditions to unclog the roads, good policing will make a big difference on the roads.

I frankly haven't looked up the law and it may be a personal rant, but is there a rule on who gets Right of the Way on roundabouts in India? Our home balcony faces 2 roundabouts. We can expect to see anything from dangerous to hilarious at any time of the day.

[CarJunki]

Originally Posted by Radar

good policing will make a big difference on the roads.

I frankly haven't looked up the law and it may be a personal rant, but is there a rule on who gets Right of the Way on roundabouts in India?

Policing/Enforcement is never sufficient. There is no country in world where police numbers will be sufficient, if public at large does not follow rules. So policing is not the solution to this issue. Police is not going to come and prevent someone from acting foolishly, they may put penalty but by that time someone else may have already lost to the fool.

On the roundabout right of way, there are rules defined. Unfortunately no one follows any rule.

[clementw]

Hardly surprised as many do not have any regard for road rules, personal safety or discipline. Just today as I was on my scooter for a short shopping trip and on the way back there was a Swiggy delivery boy on a scooter, no helmet, one mobile in hand and looking into the phone nearly crashed into me driving on the wrong side. With a wave of apology he continued on his way. This kind of behaviour is becoming so commonplace that its a miracle the number of accidents are what they are.

[fine69]

I'm surprised that some people are surprised at this.

Please go to youtube and start watching road accident videos in India, I can assure you that more than 95% of the time its the driver/rider at fault.

If all those holding a driving license in India were asked to appear for a license test from a European country or North America then we'd probably have around 3/4th licenses revoked.

I wouldn't blame the drivers though, when the license issuing authority doesn't give a damn and the force responsible for implementation also doesn't care much then why not.

If airplanes or helicopters were cheaper I can assure you that we'd have the same car/bike buying population in the air with pilot licenses!

[k10_nag]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

what does "people" in the "per 100000 people" , refer to :
a) the population
OR
b) total vehicle owners

If (a), a country where car ownership has deep penetration, will show up worse compared to other countries where penetration is low.
If (b), a country where car ownership has shallow penetration, will show up better than what the real death % actually is.

Its the population. Yes, it is much worse as our vehicle penetration is low.

Either way, scandinavian countries (norway, sweden, finland) are doing really well, in terms of this death % statistic. Expected, from countries where volvos, scanias, saabs etc rule the roost.

Yes. Scandinavian countries are doing an exemplary job in road safety .

[anjan_c2007]

No matter of surprise at all ! On an average in every one hour of driving a car, you (if you are a discipline abiding teambhpian) can come across at least a bare minimum of one or two oxymorons on any means of transport, who was/were saved from a serious accident due to alertness and diligence on your part.

Despite the BVNSAP norms kicking in, airbags, ABS, EBD and the simultaneous proliferation of expressways all over the country, we find a 11 % share in the global accident deaths now. The expressways have made touching three digit speed limits easier.

All these safety devices have been ushered in, but the driver's and traffic user's mindsets are the same and are rather worsening. If not checked, it will get worse.

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by TusharK

India has the highest number of road accident deaths in the world. Despite having just 1% of the world's vehicles, India accounts for 11% of the world's total road accident fatalities.

Just some more pointers to think about:

• Does the 1% include all registered 2-wheelers?
• How many deaths can be attributed to lack of timely medical intervention?
• A person involved in a motorcycle accident is far more likely (4x-8x) to meet his end

Just having safer cars isn't going to magically improve these numbers.

[DusterBoy]

I have driven Duster for 1.25L km and Pulsar for 50k km so far. I can enlist possible causes of accidents based on my driving experience as follows.

City Traffic -
1) Bikers riding as if they are playing MotoGP on a PlayStation, cutting lanes and zooming past cars by somehow keeping few inches of gap while doing so.
2) When Jaywalkers suddenly start running midway or stay standstill right in front of moving car. This always give me a mini heart attack.
3) When Auto Rickshaw drivers hit brakes just because he saw a potential passenger on the way, not giving any signal or not even parking his auto off the road thus creating bottleneck of traffic jam behind. And when all vehicle behind such auto try to cut lane to move ahead, there is always the danger of accident from vehicles of other lane already moving.
4) Illegal Parking of vehicles and encroachment on Road thus blocking entire lane of road as a consequence of which all moving traffic competes to pass through the only remaining lane and invite accidents.
5) Sudden lane cutting to avoid Pot hole(s) or to take a turn.

Highways -
1) Overspeeding on dangerous turns.
2) Excessive lane cutting particularly while trying to overtake between the gap of 2 moving vehicles on separate lanes by squeezing the vehicle through the gap.
3) Animals suddenly appearing on the road.
4) Black Spots.
5) Fast driving in Fog, heavy rains and similar adverse conditions.

Recently I watched a video conference of Hon. Minister Nitin Gadkari on Road Safety on youtube. It was quite disheartening to see the minister himself feeling so sad about the annual death count crossing 1.5L each year and millions of others injured due to Road Accidents in India.
He frankly accepted that his ministry has failed in this specific area. He also disclosed that Incorrect Road Engineering, Faulty DPR, Wrong sections of alignments are major causes of road accidents on National Highways and Expressways. Glad that the ministry has now identified the causes and has taken initiatives and steps in the right direction to remove identified black spots, rectifying mistakes in Road Engineering wherever possible which will definately minimize death count in upcoming years.

[sentra26]

Originally Posted by VaidhiR

This one is straight forward. Another friend went out to buy stationeries. As he stepped out of the shop, an auto driver, piss drunk, slammed into him. His head hit the pavement and he died on the spot. At 9 pm, I must add.

I have lost two people to road accidents and this incident of your friend is particularly sad on so many different levels. We are at the verge of being scared to even walk in the streets. In fact, what complicates matters further many are going for faster cars, faster bikes and demanding better roads when there is ZERO infrastructure for pedestrians. The fast bikes makes one nervous to even cross the road. And older people are really paying the price in the areas where I live. On rainy days, zero pavements plus fast bikes/cars makes it deadly for them. Even those pavements which are there for namesake are occupied by samosavallas frying their dishes in hot oil. So its a double whammy.

Developing a good pedestrian infrastructure (not that it could have prevented your tragedy) is very very essential. Pedestrians need to be given first priority. Otherwise who would use the metro, who would take the buses? Before we demand smoother roads and safer cars, we need to demand safer pathways for pedestrians. I wish more people speak up on this.

[envyravi]

Do we have car wise statistics about accidents in India?

[rainmaster]

No wonder we have the most number of deaths in road accidents. We as a country lacks discipline in general and take things for granted. Unless we realize the importance of driving, responsibilities associated with driving and our actions on road might affect someone’s life, I don’t see any big improvements happening in near future. I’m pretty sure that 90% of license holders in India doesn’t understand that “driving is a privilege not a right” .

• Two wheelers and pedestrians are the most vulnerable population on road. The urge to answer your mobile as soon as its rings need to be stopped. I have come across numerous times two wheelers answering calls, checking messages and even texting while driving.
• Two wheelers and pedestrians has to realize that no matter whose fault , they will be in receiving end in case of any accidents.
• Lack of using mirrors & indicators when changing lanes and not checking blind spot are major contributors of accidents .Unfortunately lot of youngsters bike doesn’t have any mirrors at all. Who cares about what is coming behind.
• False bravado among the parents on encouraging their sons/daughters to drive two wheelers.
• Parking Trucks/Trailers on highways during night is a ticking time bomb , this practices needs to be eliminated. We have seen numerous lives lost due to such pathetic practices. Those who are diving during night time has to realize that visibility will be low and adjust their speed based on current road conditions and visibility.
• Worst part is that we believe accidents will never happen to us , even if does its all because of the fate and not because of poor driving skills or techniques.
• On a personal front, I have almost stopped riding two wheelers, never felt safe even with all protective gears. Indian roads are too dangerous for two wheelers.

Understanding of concepts like right of way, sharing road with others, 3 second rule and other such defensive driving techniques are alien to most of the drivers in India. I lost all the hope of educating current generation about defensive driving , strict adherence to traffic rules and follow safe driving practices. Best place to start the driving education is at high school and complete it in college. It’s a cultural change that needs to happen. If driving becomes part of curriculum , license can be issued in college through RTO after clearing written rule test , on road test and completing course on defensive driving. Behavioral change in Indian drivers will only happen with proper education in early years of adolescences.