What causes road accidents?
There are several reasons for road accidents, which are in fact very high in India as compared to other countries. Human beings are well…human, and they make errors while driving…and the risk of error increases when they drink and drive or when they are tired and sleepy. Road accidents can be also caused by road rage. When people get annoyed if others overtake or do something they think is wrong on the road they might do something rash in retaliation. They could try to overtake the same car, drive dangerously close, curse and shout and break traffic rules. And there have been cases where drivers have forced the other car or vehicle to stop and beat up the driver! Why, just yesterday the well known cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu was convicted of beating a man to death in a fit of road rage. And often people get away with these misdemeanors if they are rich and powerful.
Given below are some statistics from the website of The Department of Road Transport and Highway, Government of India:
As it says here:
“Incidentally, India holds the dubious distinction of registering the highest number of road accidents in the world. According to the experts at the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NTPRC) the number of road accidents in India is three times higher than that prevailing in developed countries. The number of accidents for 1000 vehicles in India is as high as 35 while the figure ranges from 4 to 10 in developed countries.”
Drinking and driving
A great number of accidents are caused by drunken driving. These drivers irritate me the most. Drunken drivers are more liable to make errors and more liable to get into a rage. But more than anything, its the attitude of the drivers that plays a very big part. A devil may care attitude. We are all familiar with this kind of person. These people are reluctant to admit that they are too drunk to drive because they think it is a slur on their ‘ability’ in some way. When they can’t drive fast or are not allowed to over-take, they feel it’s an affront to their ego. They can get really mad when they are prevented from over-taking. One tends to become more aggressive when one drinks and drives.
Look closely at those whom you’ve seen drink and drive. It’s a mistake to think that drunk drivers are bad drivers…they are not. In fact, they may well be excellent drivers otherwise. Therefore they cannot be stopped simply by making procurement of licences more stringent and being strict about driving tests. This will not put a stop to drunken driving….or road rage. The main thing we need to do is change attitudes towards driving. Make people realise that refraining from driving after a couple of drinks is sensible, not silly. That being slowed down by another car is irritating, but not an insult.
Interestingly, research in the West has proven when drivers are intoxicated they exhibit aggressive driving behavior, going too close to the vehicle in front of them and applying more force when breaking. They are also more reckless, quite unable to see the consequences of their actions. So, what happens if a person who is inherently a fast driver, drinks and drives? A double whammy for those who are the recieving end.
We know what happened in young Alistair’s case. He mowed down 12 people on Carter Road a few weeks ago. Now it turns out that he has a fake licence. The media is making a hue and cry about it. Tell me, do you think that if Alistair had a genuine licence he would have driven more carefully? Or is the problem with his upbringing? His attitude? The attitude of his mother, who felt that the police treated her son badly?
One solution is to obey traffic laws
Being strict about issuing liences will certainly put a stop to those who can’t drive properly. We have plenty of this kind in India. But obeying and understanding traffic signs and law is also a part of good driving. At times drivers show ‘attitude.’ They feel that by breaking a traffic law they are doing something daring, or that obeying traffic laws means a lack of sense! For example if a red light is on and there are hardly any vehicles, people feel justified in breaking the light. But how can they be sure that nothing will happen? Worse, breaking lights becomes a habit.
The problem is that we lack a mindset for following the traffic laws. It’s not as if something is wrong with us Indians, it is a question of not having it ingrained in us. It is so easy to get away after violating a traffic law, that we are not in the habit of doing it! In developed countries they follow the law because if they don’t they will get hauled to jail, lose their licence, whatever!
There was an interesting programme on television recently (humorous) where they put up silly signs on the roads (in developed countries) to see if people followed them. Some of them were ridiculous like a sign saying “Don’t walk or stand’ at a crossing. But people took the sign seriously and actually started jumping at the spot!
What a contrast here! Take a look at this blatant breaking of the traffic lights.
While being strict about issuing licenses and enforcing traffic rules is important, I feel that changing the mind-set of people is even more important. People who want to break laws will usually find a way to do it, at least in India. The way to start is by strict policing!
Update, 8th Dec: A better, more stringent punishment for rash drivers?
The news is that the government is proposing to confiscate the licence of anyone who fails the breath analyser test. That’s good news. Right now the penalty of drunken driving in India is a fine of Rs 2000-3000 and a prison term ranging from six months to two years. However, as conviction takes time, the driver can be back on the road the very next day as it is a bailable offence. In fact, the driving licences of all those who drive recklessly should be confiscated. Even if one kills people on the road one can get bail. And if one is powerful enough, get away without any punishment.
Update, 13th April 2007. Update on our conviction rates (information from TOI) :
In India we have one of the highest accident rates but one of the lowest conviction rates. Just take Maharashtra. In 2005 214 criminal cases were lodged for causing death by negligence by driving, but the conviction rate was only 9 per cent. The problem in India is that it takes several years for the case to come to court and in the meantime either the witnesses disappear or they turn hostile. It is easy for the convicted (who are out on bail) to bribe witnesses.
And in any case, if a person is caught for drunken driving,he does not have much to fear as punishment is light. Under the Motor Vehicles Act you get a six month prision sentence or a fine of Rs 2000/-. hardly anyone ever goes to prison as Rs 2000/- is a paltry sum. However if the police book the offender under Section 304-A of the Indian Penal Code which provides for a heavier fine or a jail term of 2 years then it can get a little harder, but only a little. Even in this case the court does not usually give the prison term and it is prison which is the real deterrent. There is no forensic or scientific investigation to prove guilt anyway and often the offender walks free, without even a fine…ready to drink and drive again. Interestingly, like many other laws in our country our laws governing drunken driving are ancient. They date back to the nineteenth century! A time where people used to travel by horse driven carraiges!
So why do culprits get away?
Well, this is because the police, in the absence of a suitable law, attempt to charge the driver of laws like “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” (Section 304-II of the Indian Penal Code) and to prove this charge is impossible. It means that the prosecution has to show that the driver had the “intention” to kill. In most cases the drivers don’t…they are simply being negligent. Another very harsh law which is sometimes applied (section 307 of the Indian Penal Code) is “attempt to murder” but this too is impossible to prove. Naturally the culprits get away!
Update: A comparison with the West (information from TOI):
Abroad if you drink and drive and commit a traffic offense, you could get your license impounded for life. As per statistics from the US-based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration around 17,000 people die every year in road accidents in the US, but in Maharashtra alone there are over 10000 fatal accidents every year! Its not just the laws, but also insurance companies which act tough. Insurance premiums triple for those who have been involved in a serious traffic offense. As it is young people in the US have to pay more insurance premium as they are involved in more accidents.
The laws to control rash drivers in the US range from misdemeanor (one year jail term), felony charges, vehicular manslaughter and vehicular homicide. These crimes carry severe punishments and the best thing is that in homicide cases the license is taken away and the driver is banned from driving in that country. The punishments also get progressively more severe with each offense.
Compare it with India. In Maharashtra for example, there is no way of even knowing if a person has been booked before in a traffic violation case! Some states do have this…and now (2007) this system is being introduced in Delhi.
Related Reading: Accident victims don’t get help in time
Is helping accident victims our duty as citizens?
At the recieving end of road rage
The influential, the rich and the celebrities can get away with rash driving
Traffic and safety problems on the Mumbai Pune Expressway
Filed under: Driving, Law, Life, Media, News | Tagged: rash driving, road accidents, road laws
It is not a question of laws lacking the teeth. It is the lack of implementation of such laws. One you can’t implement the existing laws, and can’t produce the results, you feel that more strict laws are required. But, the new law also meets the same fate, because there is no implementation. Having seen criminal justice system from close quarters for many years, frankly speaking, I don’t think any breath analyser test will add to any better management of the accidents. There may be the initial euphoria for a few days, but then it is the same old story…! Yes, some more strict laws may mean some more bribes…!
You are talking of prison sentence for drunken driving. I have seen drivers having killed people through accidents getting away with just fine (and no prison term) even after their convictions!
Many of the recent publicised accident killings were by celebrities or affluent persons driving after partying till late nights, of course with drinks and all that. A speed machine, a drink and an arrogant affluent person make a deadly combination for the footpath dwellers and pedestrians.
But, I must say - a good and timely article.
This is a global problem, not just in Mumbai. I live in NJ, where they take drinking laws very seriously, especially related to driving. If there were more organizations like MADD on a global scale, I think it would help.
And a prison sentence for drunken driving isn’t new here, but that only happens if you have an exceptionally poor record. Most of time time, it’s an obscene amount of money paid in fines, suspension of license and sometimes community service–nothing that helps remedy the actual problem.
Right now I drink, but after readind what this page said, it changed my mind about ever drinking again. TH@NK YOU SO MUCH!
i lost my best friend back in 2005 Nov, 26 to a damn drunk drivr .
hey thanx alot for throing light on this very important issue in our country i must say i have done a project on it but i have reaised india has very little drunk driver cases i mean especially in MUMBAI. and i think these few numbers can be made 0 if we really take initiative. so if u kno of sumone who drinks and drives tell him bout what is a possibility and force him to leave it. VALUE LIVE BOTH UR’S AND OTHER’S.
this is very unfortunate that, people knows that drink driving is illegal, still doing the same mistakes,very interesting factor is that most of the drink drivers are well educated. I have done the project on drink driving with interlocj system.Due this interlock system car can notstart if the driver drinks alcohol concentrated liquid which is above desire level.practically it proved that drink driving can be avoided 35%.
Unfortunately, we all seem to be looking at the obvious, and making judgements without looking deep into the problem. We are convinced that ‘driver error’ is the problem: be it drunken driving, or reckless driving or whatever. We tend to think this way because there is a driver involved in every motor accident. We presume he must have been drinking or driving recklessly to have caused (or being involved in) an accident. In most cases of accidents,the FIR prepared by the police attributes it to drunken or reckless driving. The statistics will always show that driver error caused the accident. The government will keep repeating this, and the gullible public will believe it.
According to most “EXPERTS”, the causes of accidents are:
1. Overspeeding
2. Drunken Driving
3. Reckless driving
4. Not following traffic rules
5. Driving without licence
etc., etc., etc.,
I have been driving for the past 36 years. I rate myself as an above average driver. I write this on the strength of my experience and expertise as a driver.
While the above causes may have been correct a few decades back, the situation has changed. If we examine the abovesaid causes closely, we will find that they are not a major cause.
Overspeeding: This is actually a myth. In India it is almost impossible to speed, let alone OVER speed. Speed is a relative thing. If you are on a highway doing 80 kmph, you are not over speeding. But if you do that in a city, you may be overspeeding. What happens in India is that the highways pass through city centres. A person travelling fast on a highway suddenly finds himself in the middle of a town with milling crowds and heavy traffic. In the first place the Highway should not have passed through a town. Second, the driver should have been sufficiently fore-warned.
In my opinion the major cause of accidents in India, is the total lack of a traffic system. Once I was driving in the US with a road engineer. When I asked him why they take such great pains in designing their roads, he told me: ” We design our roads in such a way that the least efficient and least intelligent driver can go through our system without a problem”.
This set me thinking. I decided that if we were to prevent road accidents, we must first define a ‘road accident’. Since I could not find any official definition of a road accident, i decided to define it myself.
Here’s my definition. ” a road accident is an unanticipated or extraordinary situation in which the distance between a user of the road and another object is reduced to zero or less”.
Let me explain.
A ‘user of the road’ : may be a vehicle, or a pedestrian.
‘Another object’: The other object could be another vehicle, a pedestrian, an animal on the road, a tree, a telephone or electric post, or the road itself.
In an ordinary situation a user of the road and the road itself are in contact ie. the tyres or the feet of the user are resting on the road. But if the vehicle were lying on its side it may be an extrordinary situation. Same is the case when the vehicle has crashed into ‘the other object’.
DISTANCE: this is the key factor. An accident is said to have occured when the DISTANCE between a user of the road and another object is reduced to ZERO or less. The distance is reduced to zero at the point of contact and to less than zero when it ters into the other object.
Now, if we could devise a system whereby the distance cannot be reduced to zero or less, we would have solved the problem of road accidents!! Its that simple!!
Now let’s see what are the factors that cause these un-anticipated or extra ordinary situations.
For this we need to look closely at the various factors involved.
The user of the road: He is one of the (if not the most) important factors. Our roads are used by :
1. Pedestrians Speed: 4kmph
2. Push Carts Speed: 3 kmph
3. Cyclists Speed: 10 kmph
4. Auto ricks Speed: 25 kmph
5. Buses Speed: 35 - 60 kmph
6. Lorries Speed: 35 - 70 kmph
7. Scooters Speed: 40- 70 kmph
8. M. Cycles Speed: 40 - 80 kmph
9. Motor cars Speed: 40-120 kmph
All these users use the same space. Add to these the cows, camels, goats, elephants and other animals on our roads. Quite a cocktail, dont you think?
The purpose: Why are these people or things on the road? They are all there with a purpose. The purpose is to get from Point A to Point B in the fastest ,safest manner possible. No one gets on to the road expecting to kill or maim or be killed or maimed. However, the different speeds and different attitudes of the users causes absolute mayhem on the roads.
Solution: Separate the different types of users. Provide space for the different types of users. If pedestrians can be taken off the tarmac by providing foot paths, we could prevent roadkill. If sufficient lanes are provided, slower and faster traffic could be separated, allowing free flow of traffic.
Generally, roads in India are not designed. They just evolve from foot paths to lanes, to streets to roads to high ways. Most of our roads including high ways are narrow ribbons of tarmac, divided (sometimes by a thin line) into two opposing lanes. Vehicles are constantly driving in opposite directions at break neck speed. Even in the same direction, they are going like bullets out of a machine gun: one after the other at extremely high speeds. There is no room to manoeuvre. Absolutely no room for error. In developed countries, roads have several lanes so that this kind of situations do not develop. Roads should offer assiistance to the users by way of proper and sufficient road signs. Different types of roads like, access controlled National Highways for inter-state travel, State High Ways for inter-district travel, Town and country roads for urban and rural transport etc should be developed. We need those roads, and we need them NOW.
One major factor that has not yet been recognised is the physical and mental make-up of users. A 70 year old person does not have the same reflexes as a 25 year old. A person who is driving long distance has a different attitude from one who is out for an evening stroll. A person who has been driving for 8 hours non-stop is not in the same mental or physical condition as he was when he set out. Persons with varied physical and mental attributes are using the road at the same time. The road system must be designed to cater to all of them. As the american engineer told me: The system must take care of the least efficient and the least intelligent user.
It is the system that is at fault here not the hapless driver. In fact it is because driversin India are so careful that we have so few accidents, given the conditions that prevail on our roads. The earlier the authorities understand the problem in the right perspective, the better.
A good road system is not a luxury. It is a NECESSITY. There is no time to lose. Or we’ll all end up as ROADKILL.
A lot is usually said about what the problem is, very little is offered in terms of solutions. This site http://driving-india.blogspot.com/ has been created with the purpose of providing driver education and training.
At present 17 driver education videos aimed at changing the driving culture on Indian roads are available. To watch the videos, please visit: http://driving-india.blogspot.com/
Please publish this link and help change the driving culture on our roads
The videos cover the following topics:
Video 1: Covers the concept of Blind spots
Video 2: Introduces the principle of Mirrors, Signal and Manoeuvre
Video 3: At red lights, stop behind the stop line
Video 4: At red lights there are no free left turns
Video 5: The Zebra belongs to pedestrians
Video 6: Tyres and Tarmac (rather than bumper to bumper)
Video 7: Merging with the Main road
Video 8: Leaving The Main Road
Video 9: Never Cut Corners
Video 10: Show Courtesy on roads
Video 11: 5 Rules that help deal with Roundabouts
Video 12: Speed limits, stopping distances, tailgating & 2 seconds rule
Video 13: Lane discipline and overtaking
Video 14: Low beam or high beam?
Video 15: Parallel (reverse parking) made easy
Video 16: Give the cyclist the respect of a car
Video 17: Dealing with in-car condensation
Many thanks,
Dr Adhiraj Joglekar
I wish to elaborate and agree on one point posted by Sony Mathew on 05 July 2007.
This is a very important and root cause of many accidents in urban areas.
I noticed this in Bangalore. When Bangalore real-estate is ready for a boom in 2003 due to IT, as part of Golden Quadrilateral Project connecting North-South, a 6-lane highway was first laid connecting Devanahalli (New international airport of Bangalore) to Bangalore City. Of all the sanctioned road stretches, they choose first to start with the highways on outskirts of cities. This stretch was first laid to facilitate builders lobby (I always believe realestate is a politicians’ private business) to acquire all the land around the highway. Bangalore city administration has nothing to do with this road but they keep allowing high-rise apartments around the highway as soon as it is laid. In fact bangalore city adminsitration gives permission to construct high rise apartments along highways for Bangalore city development. I believe this is the root cause of mixing up of high-way and City Traffic ( a point discussed by Sony Mathew in this column). THe innocent citizens who start living in these new apts will be unfortunate ones getting involved in the high speed traffic related accidents over a span of next 10 to 15 years. Until such time they form a another ring road diverting high way traffic.
In the developed nations, the urban and highway traffic is never designed for mix up. In fact they single entry and single exit.
I feel road safety should be incorporated in the design and usage and not fire fighting afterwards.
In my view a reasonable solution considering our local issues would be to lay the highways atleast 5 km away from any populated place and force cities/towns/villages to connect (by Connecting roads) themsevles to the highways with single entry/exit roads. NO business or inhabitation or road junctions should be allowed forever upto 1km from Connecting Roads.
This could save the lives of many illiterate villages moving on the roads during day-times in the only road they have in their villages and the residents of outksirts of towns/cities from getting involved in accidents with highway traffic
Thanks
Ranga
Well, all of you have raised very interesting points…but my feeling is…protect ourselves! And therefore whatever that hard and terrible conditions there are today on Indian roads the driver has to ensure that his reflexes are fantastic and he obeys traffic rules, otherwise don’t drive. Just being practical here, because finally if we go up to heavan whats the use of telling God that its their fault?
And ofcourse we all have to try very hard to convince the govt. to improve the situation.
an informative article.
lets look for something basic…
in a road accident the majority of causalities happen to pedestrian…
so the question arises what were pedestrians doing on the middle of the road?
ans… because there was no footpath….
in bangalore there is no footpath .. and even if it is there, it will be uneven.. every shop, every house and modified the footpath into a ramp… hence making it impossible for someone to walk on
It is a mindblocking case for India. thousands of people are loosing their lives in road accidents. i suggest to paint the headligts with black paint which the government too lack.
A relative of mine passed away in a road accident that was full and full a lorry driver’s fault. it was a hit and run on a highway. i feel that the laws in place are highly inadequate. I thought of 2 changes
1.the driving licence must be invoked the 1st time when driver is provn guilty fr an accident by negligent/ drunken driving.
2. Even after that while he is without a licence if he commits a fatal accident by negligent/drunken driving then he must, under section 302, be sentenced to death for committing murder.
what are you guys saying abt this??
No offense, but dont u think its a bit too harsh for an uneducated person who has a driving license but doesnt know even the ABC of raffic rules?The driver is a wrong doer but if u look deeper into it its not thier fault at all.these kind of drivers are most usually uneducated and they come out of their homes just to earn for their wives and children who hardly get a proper meal three times a day.they wont stop and take the credit on them beacause they cant afford to WASTE their time and money.I know this may seem strange but in the above case,theres not much to say!
this is not what i say, this is what they usually think,belive me and even putting them to death wont help, the one who had to die has died he wont come back if his killer is sentenced to death.because its not his fault that hes not educated ,that hes not taught ABC, that hes too poor to stop and take someone to hospital.
THIS WAS MY OPINION AND I HOPE YOU DONT MIND IT,IT WAS JUST WHAT I HAVE SEEN AND OBSERVED SO FAR.AND BELEIVE ME THIS IS SOME PART OF TRUTH!
Make Roads Safe report
The Commission for Global Road Safety’s report: Make Roads Safe – a new priority for sustainable development, published in June 2006, made a series of recommendations for improving the international response to global road traffic injuries. Building on the policy platform provided by the seminal 2004 publication from the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, the World Report on road traffic injury prevention, the Make Roads Safe report focused on ways in which funding to road injury prevention could be increased. The main arguments of the report were that road traffic injuries were a major and growing public health epidemic, on the scale of Malaria and TB – according to WHO figures; that the cost to developing countries in human lives and economic loss (estimated at up to $100 billion a year by the World Bank) required urgent attention and that failing to address road safety in the context of development policies (particularly relating to road infrastructure investment) would impede progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The report set out three key recommendations aimed at increasing political commitment and investment in road safety:
• a $300 million Action Plan, over ten years, to equip developing countries with the sustainable tools to tackle their own road safety problems and to be able to access multilateral sources of funding for road safety;
• a requirement that a minimum 10% of all multilateral donor road infrastructure budgets should be allocated to road safety measures;
• a ministerial level UN summit to chart a course for international cooperation on road traffic injury prevention.
The Make Roads Safe report was endorsed by an Advisory Board including officials, acting in a personal capacity, from the World Bank, OECD, WHO, Asian Development Bank and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. At the launch, in London, Lord Robertson summarised the findings of the report: ‘to Make Poverty History we must Make Roads Safe’.
Make Roads Safe is a global road safety campaign established with the aim of securing political commitment for road traffic injury prevention around the world. The Make Roads Safe campaign recently played a leading role in arguing for and securing the first ever United Nations Ministerial Conference on global road safety, which was approved by the UN General Assembly on 31st March 2008 and will be held in Moscow in late 2009.
The campaign was launched in June 2006 following the publication of the Make Roads Safe report by the Commission for Global Road Safety. The Commission, chaired by former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, with members including Michael Schumacher, made recommendations for increasing funding levels for global road safety and argued that the international community was ignoring the scale of road deaths – which World Health Organisation statistics show as ranking alongside Malaria and Tuberculosis in terms of global mortality.
The Make Roads Safe campaign is coordinated by the FIA Foundation, a road safety NGO, and includes a coalition of public health and road safety organisations as partners. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the scale of the road injury problem and to present this as a key issue for sustainable development. The Make Roads Safe campaign argues that tackling road injuries is vital for achieving many of the Millennium Development Goals, including targets for child mortality and health and education targets, because of the vital role played by access to roads in delivering these services. The campaign claims that, although the G8 has approved $1.2 billion for new road infrastructure in Africa, only $20 million has been allocated for road safety measures. The campaign argues that at least 10% of this infrastructure budget, and the similar budgets deployed worldwide by the World Bank, regional development banks and other donors, should be dedicated to road safety measures. If this principle was accepted in the case of Africa it would mean $120 million would be available for road safety measures such as safety assessments of road design, enforcement and education strategies. However critics point to the bad environmental and equity record of the same groups in the OECD, giving priority to motorcars over more sustainable and safe forms of transport, like walking, cycling and public transport
The Make Roads Safe campaign also calls for a $300 million, 10 year, Action Plan for road safety to build the capacity of developing countries to respond to their own road traffic injury problems.
the information should be in the tabular form ……giving the main causes of accidents …but with complete explanations..
this should be the first site to be opened …when anyone write accidents in the search engine….
so i think these things will be taken into aacount…positively..