6 months ago
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The communicative truthful far: On November 10, the Supreme Court took cognisance of 2 mass-casualty roadworthy crashes in Phalodi, Rajasthan (14 killed) and NH 163, Telangana (19 killed). More than 1.7 lakh lives were mislaid successful 2023 unsocial owed to roadworthy crashes.
What are the problems successful licensing?
Licensing and grooming request to beryllium the archetypal enactment of defence against crashes, not conscionable an administrative formality. The operator licensing strategy is meant to beryllium a filtration process, determining who is acceptable to run a conveyance and who is not. But, crossed overmuch of India, driving licences tin beryllium obtained without ceremonial training. Driving tests are often reduced to perfunctory turns connected tiny trial tracks. For commercialized drivers, whose vehicles tin measurement much than 15 tonnes and transportation dozens of passengers, determination is nary structured, standardised information training. And erstwhile a licence is issued, fewer checks are carried retired to measure a driver’s continuing skill, carnal fitness, oregon intelligence alertness. Heavily fatigued drivers — immoderate with compromised imaginativeness oregon chronic unwellness — routinely run dense vehicles carrying unsuspecting passengers, with nary mechanics to observe oregon restrict them.
What is the relation of enforcement?
Speeding, overloading, lane violations, and driving nether the power stay among the apical causes of fatal crashes. Enforcement against these, however, proceed to trust heavy connected resource-constrained and unskilled manual policing, making it inconsistent and susceptible to some quality mistake and discretion. Even wherever exertion exists — specified arsenic automated cameras and digital challan systems — sum is limited, information integration is weak, and penalties are often not recovered. The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasised the request for physics enforcement standards and technology-based deterrence. But adoption remains patchy crossed States.
What astir anemic infrastructure?
From poorly banked curves and nary clang barriers to inadequate illumination and missing remainder areas that unit dense vehicles to parkland connected the highways, the carnal situation of India’s highways and municipality roads often turns insignificant mistakes into fatal outcomes. Many State and nationalist highways were designed decades agone for velocity and throughput, not safety. The effect has fixed mode to ‘unforgiving roads’ — corridors wherever a moment’s lapse tin mean disaster. Maintenance gaps specified arsenic breached dividers, exposed factual structures, unmarked operation zones, and encroachments are common. In municipality areas, pedestrian infrastructure remains minimal oregon absent, leaving those connected ft to vie with dense vehicles for space.
Evidence from aviator projects amusement that design-led interventions tin reverse this trend. On the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, for instance, evidence-based engineering and enforcement changes nether the Zero Fatality Corridor programme person chopped clang deaths by much than half.
How tin trauma attraction beryllium improved?
For galore victims of roadworthy crashes successful India, endurance depends not connected the interaction itself, but connected what happens successful the captious hr that follows. Ambulance networks alteration wide successful availability and ratio crossed the country. In agrarian areas, delays successful decisive attraction tin agelong beyond an hour; adjacent successful cities, victims are often extracted by bystanders oregon the constabulary without due instrumentality and small to nary aesculapian support. Facilities closest to clang sites often deficiency trauma specialists, humor banks, oregon basal resuscitation facilities. A projected Right to Trauma Care instrumentality could mandate time-bound exigency effect standards and a coordinated trauma network.
Moreover, licensing, infrastructure, and trauma attraction are treated arsenic abstracted silos managed by different departments. Safety tin lone beryllium achieved erstwhile they function arsenic one, reinforced by accountability and coordination.
Piyush Tewari is the Founder and CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation.
