On the road to safer infrastructure
This situation is bound to only exacerbate, given the current impetus on building highways and enhancing connectivity— if these are built without the same emphasis on safe infrastructure—and the dispersed responsibility for road safety in the country. Safe infrastructure, which is one of the five pillars identified under the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-20), highlights the need for signatories (including India) to improve the safety of road networks for the benefit of all road users, especially the most vulnerable: pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. Activities include improving the safety-conscious planning, design, construction and operation of roads; making sure that roads are regularly assessed for safety; and encouraging relevant authorities to consider all forms of transport and types of safe infrastructure when they respond to the mobility needs of road users.
Safe infrastructure is one of the key elements of a ‘safe system approach’, which most developed nations have already incorporated. Moving to a safe system approach to road traffic safety would infer learning from mistakes elsewhere, and developing an effective road safety management system.
Fortunately, the Government of India has already taken the first step in this direction through several safe system features incorporated in the proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2015 (RTSB), the National Road Safety and Traffic Regulation Authority envisaged under the Bill would inter alia: provide technical advice and assistance to the central and state governments besides local authorities on administration of road safety and traffic management; specify guidelines for establishing and The bill must motivate road agencies to build ideal infrastructure to make the roads safer. operating trauma facilities and paramedical facilities for dealing with traffic related injuries on roads and highways; specify guidelines for capacity building and development of skills for traffic police, hospital authorities, highway authorities, educational and research organizations and other organizations dealing with road safety and traffic management; promote good practices in road safety and traffic management, undertake road safety and traffic education programs, and conduct campaigns to create awareness amongst all sections of road users; involve stakeholders and non-government organizations working in the area of road safety and traffic management, and assist them in promotion of efficient traffic management and road safety practices; promote consistency between international technical standards and domestic technical standards and ensure that the level of safety adopted in the country is not compromised; conduct research, by way of collecting data and undertake analysis and planning activities to improve road safety, traffic management, crash investigation and such other measures as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act; and prepare and implement such plans as may be necessary to improve road safety.
From the infrastructure perspective, the National Transport Authority envisaged under the bill would, inter alia: develop a National Road Transportation Plan that would inter alia demonstrate an integrated approach to transport and land use planning; develop transport improvement infrastructure or any transport infrastructure project for the smooth movement of passengers and goods consistent with the objectives of a multi-modal and integrated transport system including integrated passenger transport hubs, integrated freight transport hubs and intermodal transport facilities; develop classification of roads into different categories such as urban, rural or highway road and standards of design, construction and maintenance thereof including amenities such as pedestrian crossings, rest areas etc; develop and implement effective environmental policies, strategies and management systems consistent with the strategic policy of the National Transport Authority to support a sustainable transport system, including minimizing any adverse environmental impacts from the public transport system and freight movement; establish a transport framework for transport improvement infrastructure performance program a highway safety performance improvement program and a city safety and traffic management improvement program; annually review compliance of the standards by the state government under the transport improvement infrastructure performance program.
The above RTSB features should motivate road agencies to build appropriate infrastructure to make the roads safer: road signs, markings and crash barriers, sidewalks, shoulders, foot over-bridges and underpasses should be treated as imperatives rather than afterthoughts. The deaths could also have been averted had the road safety audit process been institutionalized in all road agencies. The RTSB takes account of this in harmonizing domestic and international road safety standards and having a provision for annual review of compliance to such standards by the states. Another important feature of the RTSB, is the need for accurate data collection, research and analysis: that the stretch along NH44 (in the village and several highway deaths) was not identified as an accident blackspot even after countless deaths points to the inadequacy of current visual identification of black spots, without the aid of proper tools or data, across the country. In addition, predictive tools such as crash reduction factors, along with a network-based approach of blackspot management may need to be developed. Further, a national crash database is essential to identify high-risk road stretches/locations and to plan for and implement effective road safety interventions. While states such as Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh have already developed robust accident data collection systems, given the increasing use of IT/ICT in government functions, it may be timely to explore the development of a common accident database management system (at the central level). The advantage of this kind of a set-up would be homogeneity of data at the central level, which would facilitate the evolution of national- level targets and strategies for minimizing road fatalities.
In summary, the early enactment and operationalization of RTSB would catalyze the use of best practices and IT-ICT in building safer road infrastructure, and aid the government’s endeavor to ensure that a large portion of our demographic dividend does not translate in to a public health burden each year.