Making roads safer

Over 1.68 lakh people were killed in road crashes in India last year. This translates into a fatality every three minutes, and denotes a jump of nearly 9 per cent over the previous year. The number of people left injured stood at 4.43 lakh, compared to 3.84 lakh in 2021. Over the years, concerted efforts have been made to improve road conditions, tighten the safety norms for auto manufacturers and enforce stringent traffic rules. As the data shows, the deficiencies are stark. Confronting the brazen lack of discipline on Indian roads is impossible without a massive investment push in the road safety strategy.

The pitifully low number of traffic cops is a serious anomaly and a major reason for ineffective policing. That, in turn, explains the routine wrong-side, wrong-lane and rash driving, overspeeding, not wearing helmets and jumping traffic lights. In towns and cities across the region, flouting traffic rules is viewed as coming-of-age bravado. CCTV cameras can be of help only if there is constant monitoring. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has been forthcoming about the several shortcomings and missing the target of reducing deaths in accidents by half before 2024. He has laid stress on road engineering as a critical safety element. Preparing detailed project reports without providing for flyovers or underbridges — just to save construction costs — compromises on road safety standards, he has pointed out. The ministry would do well to dwell on the lessons from the recent rain-triggered devastation of the road network in Himachal Pradesh.

Punjab is set to launch Sadak Suraksha Force to address the high fatality rate and ensure smoother traffic flow. For that to achieve any measure of success, an effective enforcement of traffic regulations has to be the first step.

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