In 2023, road crashes in India claimed nearly 1.73 lakh lives. As many as 474 people die in road mishaps every day. There are nearly 53 accidents and 19 deaths every hour in our country. But no amount of yearly, daily, or hourly statistics has been able to put road safety anywhere near the top of the priority list.
Numbers change but the danger remains
According to official statistics published by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), 153,972 people were killed in road crashes in the year 2021. Simply translated, that is 11.3 deaths per 100,000 population. The data furnished by the National Crime Records Bureau differs a little, as it says more than 155,600 fatalities took place on India’s roads in 2021. While the figures may vary, the message remains the same — Indian roads need to be safer.
Unfortunately, it is not just the numbers that steadily increase each year, it is also the ratio.
According to data shared by state governments, in 2023, road crashes claimed 1.73 lakh lives and injured 4.63 lakh. A World Bank study also furnished another statistic: India has only 1% of the world’s vehicles but accounts for almost 10% of all crash-related deaths. Furthermore, the nation ranks first in the number of road accident deaths across 199 countries.
Last month, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, while drawing attention to the rising number of road accidents in India, said one solution could be driver training schools that churn out rigorously trained drivers who could make a positive impact in road safety. However, road safety measures must also address faulty road construction and signages. The accident-prone nature of some states and national highways is yet another area that needs policy revision. If safety is considered a priority in infrastructural development, then it should be an integral part of road planning.
More land needs to be allocated for roads and highways that make spacious and neat segregation of traffic into pedestrians, bicycles, heavy motor vehicles and cars.
What is the way out?
To improve road safety and reduce road casualties MoRTH has entrusted the Indian Road Safety Campaign (a non-profit organization) to lead road safety activities that will involve citizens at grassroots levels. After several efforts, NGOs, and awareness campaigns later, the situation has barely improved at the ground level.
For any measures to show sweeping results, it’ll take a blend of creativity and stringent law enforcement and go beyond the conventional methods of road safety.
“But why are India’s roads so deadly?”
This question needs to be at the root cause of road safety experts drawing any policy measures. “A vast number of crashes are a result of human errors which calls for immediate redressal of the loopholes in our enforcement system,” opined Deepanshu Gupta, road safety activist and co-founder of Indian Road Safety Campaign, in an interview with Deutsche Welle once. While the crashes on state and national highways require an altogether separate assessment and redressal system.
Measures that worked
After his cousin died in a road crash, entrepreneur Piyush Tewari founded The SaveLIFE Foundation in 2008 to improve road safety in India. The foundation was also behind the first Good Samaritan Law in the country that rewarded bystanders for assisting after road accidents.
The foundation’s zero fatality programme and its 360-degree approach to safety has not just been a success in theory but made an impact on the ground as well. There are traffic intersections that are not designed for pedestrians and cyclists, but a heavy flow of cyclists use those intersections and they’re exposed in the process.
The impact of the measures has been significant enough, with some statistics pegging the reduction in road accident fatalities by 40%. Talks are on to scale up the effort and cover 100 national highways, in 100 districts across the country. “We want to deliver our objective of reducing deaths nationally by 50% by 2030,” said Tewari during an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
Many a meme have highlighted the problem, while making light of the situation. “Getting down on Indian roads is an extreme adventure sport, deadly even.” Another one says, “India is not for beginners, only the luckiest and toughest survive on the roads.” Beneath the facade of black humor lurks a problem that is serious and has been persistent — compromised road infrastructure and poor attitude towards caution. Any long-term solutions with real impact will need to address both.
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