Historically India did not experience the type of vehicular growth which it has witnessed during the last decade. Registered vehicles in the nation increased from 30.29 million in 1995 to 66.29 million in 2005 while roadcrashes, persons injured and traffic fatalities increased by 82%, 68%, and 44% respectively. This paper initially presents a quantitative perspective of road crashes in India and identifies risk categories. Three levelsof analyses were completed: nationwide crash assessment for years 2001 and 2005; crash evaluation for a group of 35 urban agglomerations (UAs); andmodal comparisons to identify risk groups. Data analysis for UAs showed that the primary risk categories were the motorized two-wheelers, pedestrians and bicyclists with a share of 27%, 20% and 5% fatalities respectively. Outside UAs, heavy vehicles posed the highest risk with 23% share of nationwide fatalities. While the Draft National Road Safety Policy broadly speaks to initiatives such as raising safety awareness and ensuring safe road infrastructure, the ground-level conditions are different. This paper discusses the problems faced by the road user and calls for immediate action to: (a) develop a road accident reporting system and a National Access Management Policy, (b) enforce traffic rules sincerely, (c) ensure compliance with vehicle maintenance rules, (c) modify driver behavior, and (d) commit to design and construction of good road infrastructure with safety asa priority. In this context, initiatives to build projects in public private partnership mode are a welcome change since they can better integrateroad design and traffic safety.
Abstract