Road safety: With roadkill rates surging, time to get the policy and design vectors right to drive safety outcomes

Every 76 seconds, there is a road accident in India. Every hour, more than 17 people die because of it. Every ~10th road accident in the world happens in India. What’s more, as much as 84% of these involve people in the 18-60 age bracket, or the working age cohort. Which means, apart from wrecking families, road accidents also dent economic activity. These figures are simply unacceptable and is an immediate call to action.

A five-pronged strategy leveraging global good practices is imperative, targeting policy, technology, and design standards for roads and vehicles. First, the guiding philosophy of road design is well-established with the ‘safe system approach’. This approach says deaths and serious injuries are unacceptable, humans make mistakes, humans are vulnerable, responsibility is shared, safety is proactive and redundancy crucial.

To be sure, the government is seized of the issue, considering its multi-flank resolution strategy – covering education, engineering (of roads and vehicles), and enforcement and emergency care – that aims to halve road accidents by end-2025 and zero fatalities by 2030. Here, it’s important to draw on global best practice to accelerate learning and establish solutions in the Indian context.

For instance, Sweden’s Vision Zero Initiative is aimed at eliminating road fatalities and serious injuries by using a holistic approach. By creating safer infrastructure, enforcing lower speed limits, and promoting pedestrian and cyclist safety, the country has already achieved significantly lower road accident rates.

Second, the design philosophy should be human-centric. Infrastructure and vehicle design must factor intrinsic behavioural needs and tendencies. For instance, on the infrastructure front, ~50,000 kilometres were added to India’s national highway network in the last 9 fiscals. While this has enabled better speeds and connectivity, longer roads can lead to increased driver fatigue.

To counter, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to develop wayside amenities every 40-60 km along existing and upcoming national highways and expressways. These include fuel stations, electric charging facilities, food courts, retail shops and ATMs. The idea is to create a pleasant experience and help people rest and recharge. Some morbid data for context: In 2021, as much as a fifth of the fatal accidents, or around ~30,000 incidents, involved a truck or lorry as the impacting vehicle. Put another way, long hauls and truck-driver fatigue are a clear and present danger.

Here, the directive by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) mandating air-conditioned driver cabins in all trucks starting 2025, is helpful. Third, data – such as inputs from road safety audits revealing design gaps, and measures to identify and rectify existing blackspots, aggregated on data lakes and Integrated Road Accident Database – must be leveraged for decision-making and determining accident-preventive design.

Further, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered algorithms can analyse historical data and predict risky behaviours and potential accident spots. This can help authorities implement improved signage, traffic-calming measures, or road redesigns.

Active monitoring and tracking of such preventive/rectifying actions needs to be accorded the highest importance. Focus is also required on areas where national highways intersect with dense habitations. For example, the NHAI’s measure of constructing passenger cross-movement facilities in rural areas on completed four- and six-lane national highways is a positive.

Fourth, specialised strategies are needed for high-density agglomerations. Safety planning for urban roads needs to consider everyone – people who walk, bike, drive, ride transit and use other transport. Designs for separate bicycle and non-motorised traffic (NMT) lanes should include well-placed entry and exit points.

A prime example here is the Netherlands, which prioritises cycling safety via an extensive network of dedicated lanes. These, coupled with traffic-calming measures and bicycle-friendly intersections have significantly reduced cycling accidents and increased overall road safety. Safe passenger-crossing facilities such as foot overbridges, pedestrian underpasses and subways, and vehicular underpasses are essential to prevent jaywalking and other hazards to pedestrians and NMT. Well-placed, easily accessible and well-lit overbridges will have higher propensity of being used. Fifth, safe vehicle designing requires focus on continuous progressive improvement.

Designs must incorporate active safety measures, such as autonomous emergency braking, to help prevent crashes, and passive ones, such as seatbelts and airbags, to protect occupants during crashes. For example, MoRTH’s guidelines mandating airbags for front passengers and seatbelts for rear-seat passengers are positives. As is the upcoming Bharat New Car Assessment Program under which passenger vehicles will be crash-tested in line with global protocols and accorded star ratings in the context of Indian regulations and driving conditions.

Further, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)-linked safety features, including departure warning, adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, and collision avoidance systems, can help avoid accidents. Vehicle design can benefit intermediate improvements as well.

There is policy willingness to make ADAS mandatory in upcoming cars; certain automakers already made ADAS Level 2 launches this year. AI-led safety devices in buses are already in use in Telengana and Maharashtra, with cameras and sensors to identify – and alert drivers about grey accident spots. Lastly, enforcement and advance warnings are crucial to driving safe road usage.

Road safety advocacy and media campaigns, and the observance of a national road safety month/week every year are sine qua non to enhance public awareness. To drive outcomes, enforcement and deterrents through strict penalties are imperative. Electronic methods to do this includes the Advanced Traffic Management System set up by MORTH across national highways in 2016. Meteorological equipment, variable message signs, and video incident detection systems along highways have facilitated timely alerts and messages to road users on upcoming weather and road conditions, guiding traffic enforcers and emergency service providers (ambulances and recovery vans) to address such incidents. Serial violations must be punished with progressive curtailment in full driving privileges.

One such example is of Australia’s Graduated Driver Licensing, designed to gradually introduce novice drivers to different driving conditions. It has reduced crashes by inexperienced drivers by imposing restrictions on night driving, passenger limit, and mobile phone usage while driving, and ensures that new drivers gain experience before being granted full driving privileges. In the Indian context, this can be modified to ensure that repeat offenders face similar step-ups in restrictions until their driving behaviour improves.

Overall, any road safety strategy will require focus on improving road and vehicle design using a human-centric approach, leveraging data and technology for decision-making, having specialised strategies for high-density agglomerations and enforcement to encourage responsible road behaviour.

Further, a proactive approach is required towards the continuous improvement of roads and vehicles, making the overall system safe, instead of only bettering certain locations or situations wherein crashes last occurred.

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