Data regarding safety performance of vehicular traffic indicates that the vehicle population and pattern of vehicle involvement in road traffic crashes in the less motorized countries of Asia are very different from those in the highly motorized countries. Trucks and buses are involved in the majority of crashes. Bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians constitute a majority of fatalities. Goods vehicles are pressed into passenger carrying service quite frequently, thereby increasing the risk of death and injury to passengers carried in the open vehicle in the event of a crash. Similarly, in rural India, overturning of tractor-trolleys carrying passengers is quite common. Buses are often very crowded inside and sometimes passengers travel on the outside of buses also. In many situations, majority of bus passengers killed are those travelling on footboards and on the roofs of the buses. These issues have to be tackled when proposing new safety measures for Asian cities.
Abstract