New cars and trucks pour on to Indian roads at an ever increasing pace (Reuters: Krishnendu Halde)
The twisted metal of smashed up cars lining highways is a grim testament to India's road toll, one of the worst in the world, with around 100,000 people killed in traffic accidents last year alone.
As incomes rise and the economy rapidly expands, new cars and trucks pour on to Indian roads at an ever increasing pace, squeezing into narrow, congested streets that were never designed for such a massive flow of traffic.
Creaking infrastructure, poorly trained drivers and cars that lack basic safety features due to a preference for cheap, fuel-efficient vehicles by Indian motorists are causing an already horrendous road toll to balloon.
And the toll is not just human. The World Bank estimates that every year road accidents cost India about 3 per cent of its gross domestic product which was more than $1.16 trillion in 2007.
"We're talking about a very serious issue here that also has huge economic implications," World Bank transport specialist Rajesh Rohatgi said.
Road accidents could become the third largest public health issue in India by 2020, overtaking such deadly diseases as tuberculosis and AIDS, the World Bank predicts.
In India, where roads carry almost 90 per cent of all passenger traffic and 65 per cent of its freight, the mortality rate per 10,000 vehicles is 14 compared with less than two for developed countries, the World Bank estimates.
It is easy to see why. Cars and motorbikes - many with four riders astride - share space on narrow roads with bicycles, three-wheeled rickshaws, trucks, buses, the odd bullock cart and pedestrians forced to walk in roads by hawkers on pavements.
With few Indian cities enforcing even basic requirements such as seat belts, it is not unusual to see children sitting in the laps of adults in front seats and overloaded buses with people balanced precariously on the steps or perched on the roofs.
Pot-holed roads, inadequate safety regulations, a scrappy licence system and a lax attitude toward drunk and underage driving are all blamed for accidents that kill an estimated 275 people every day
2 comments:
This is horrible, something needs to be done. I lost my father this year while he was visiting India in a car accident as well, and that too due to a drunk truck driver which apparently is not something new. All the truck drivers are on pills or drink to keep them awake. It's like a walking death sentence to sit in a car in India.
It's alarming how road traffic fatalities impact India.
Post a Comment