Public Affairs: Indian National Deathways

I did not know Gopinath Munde very well, but had met the popular and well liked leader from Maharashtra a couple of times in passing. His tragic and avoidable death came as a shock to the nation in general and the Bharatiya Janata Party in particular. The stunned, disbelieving bereavement of his family was heartrending. The subtext that his death had been utterly unnecessary, and could possibly have been prevented had he taken a few simple precautions, like wearing a seat belt, and that road safety in India has become a national emergency somehow got drowned out by the tragedy of the moment, although a couple of TV channels had discussions on this and some newspapers carried a few articles.

Closer home, in a terrible domestic tragedy, my own niece, a wonderful bright, lively, responsible youngster was driving her electric car on a major Bengaluru highway when a state transport bus crossed over to the wrong side of the road and rammed into her little environmentally-responsible car. She died on the spot. A young life was gone, never to return. The lives of her young husband and grieving family have changed beyond recognition.

My niece’s co-workers arranged a series of lectures on road safety, and the talks were mind-blowing in their essential simplicity of message and the importance of urgent action. Yet, although the knowledge, expertise and the announcements exist, and the tragedies and devastation regularly occur, as a society we seem to do little about it. The first lecture was delivered by Prof. Geetam Tiwari who has worked for years on this subject. Her declaration that road traffic injuries are a major public health concern with the total number of people involved in road accidents and fatalities increasing exponentially over the last few years was in itself a powerful message.

Accidents are neither one-off, nor sensational, nor very relevant till they happen to us. They are, in no uncertain terms, a public health concern, requiring study, policy interve-ntion, laws and, above all, implementation.

The common perception is that motorised transport, namely cars, buses and suchlike, constitute the bulk of our road traffic. The reality, however, is surprisingly different. There are apparently 92 different types of road users, and non-motorised transport (NMT), public transport and pedestrians, cyclists etc constitute the vast majority of road users. Yet most of us would say, if we cared to give it some thought, that roads are meant only for motorised transport. According to Dr Tiwari, traffic injuries are a significant public health problem in India as they are responsible for at least 10 per cent of the deaths in urban and rural India.

In 2011, India recorded 137,000 deaths due to road accidents, and indeed this is one of the top three leading causes of death for people in the age group of five to 44 years. What can be more tragic than to lose a life in this age bracket. However, it is not undisciplined drivers and careless pedestrians alone who should take the blame for fatal road accidents in our cities, among the highest in the world.

According to urban planners, accident and deaths can be prevented by better road planning and traffic design. In fact, if road systems are adapted to suit human behaviour, pedestrians and drivers would comply with traffic rules and there is a far greater possibility of large risk factors for road user being eliminated. According to Dr Tiwari, when a pedestrian does not use a foot overbridge it is not pedestrian indiscipline but wrong design. A moment’s reflection will show us that no normal pedestrian will ever walk up (escalators never work, even if they exist) six meters, cross the bridge, and then again walk down six meters. Rather, the pedestrian will simply hurry across at road level the moment there is a gap in traffic. Product designs should, therefore, factor in human behaviour in toto.

The most serious anomaly, and even negligence lies in the fact that our roads simply do not provide suitable space for non motorised transport. We seem to think that roads exist only for the benefit of private car owners, without sparing a thought for the vast majority of others who use roads in a country like India. We have pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaws, carts, and so many different kinds of road users. Yet, any road in any metro in India simply does not have bicycle lanes, that pedestrians have to cling to a corner of the road, since most pedestrian footpaths have either vanished or are transgressed upon by owners of large houses and shops. A clear trespass of public property but rarely interfered with by traffic officials.

Yes, there does exist a very grand sounding National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), which is actually reasonably well conceptualised. It highlights 11 main points, including issues relating to integrated land use, equitable allotment of road space, and the ramifications of non-motorised trans-port.

Predictably enough, a major committee sat on this policy and produced a voluminous report. Large parts of the report found their way into the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). All of which is wonderful, except that there has been zero work on the ground. We have not even internalised the basic and fundamental concept that not only is road safety a public health issue, but transport is an inter-disciplinary subject and various important arms of government have to weigh in, and also pull their weight.

We have abandoned this impor-tant issue to civil engineers, and consist-ently refuse to accord it the priority it requires. Unless we wake up to the realities of our road transport emergency, human tragedies are going to be an everyday part of the lives of our citizens. The techn-ology, the experts, and the planning all exist. Only the will and impetus need to be applied.

The author is a political activist, and the views expressed in this column are her own