Indian roads are getting safer but rural areas the new death-traps

The fact that upgraded vehicles, better roads, occupant protection and medical aid is still largely a preserve of urban pockets shows starkly: in 2006, rural areas reported 52.9% of the 4.6 lakh road accidents across the country, 60.2% of the 1.05 lakh deaths and 58% of 49.6 lakh injury cases.

Buses, trucks and tempos account for only 7.7% of total vehicles registered but are responsible for over 40% of all accident deaths.

Occupants of two-wheelers, passenger cars and pedestrians account for 21.9%, 15.1% and 12% of total road fatalities respectively. Bicycles and pedestrians are the most unprotected road users.

Half of all road traffic casualties are in the age group 25-65 years with a 54% share. In most cases, these accidents involving loss of the main earning member prove to be disastrous, says the report, “leading to lower living standards.” India last estimated the socio-economic cost of road accidents in 1999-2000 at 3% of its GDP. The report will be soon made public.

The good news is that although there has been a 62-fold increase in the number of registered vehicles since 1970, there has been a decline in the number of persons killed per 10,000 vehicles: down from 104 to just 12 in 2006.

This decline, despite a sustained high growth in number of vehicles, says the report, has been brought about largely due to “improvements in vehicle crashworthiness and occupant protection.” The number of registered vehicles in India has grown from 1.4 million in 1970 to over 87 million in 2006.

The fact that it is not National Highways and state highways that have reported most road crash deaths but the “other roads” responsible for 37% of those killed further points to the urban-rural divide when it comes to infrastructure. A relatively better presence of trauma care facilities along prominent highways does help in reaching medical aid to accident victims within the critical ‘golden hour’ that is often life saving. The absence of such facilities in rural pockets is indicated through the increasing incidence of fatal accidents there.

Little wonder then that it is in Bihar and Sikkim with their poor road infrastructure that you are most likely to have an accident. The report says the two states had the highest road-related deaths at 32 per 10,000 vehicles during 2006. Hilly states and North-eastern states along with Chhattisgarh share the same fate.

So Delhi which otherwise has the maximum of 2169 people killed on its roads in 2006 has one of the lowest number of persons killed per 10,000 vehicles at 4.8. This despite the fact that Delhi has more than all the vehicles in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore put together.

That explains how although it is largely the southern states that account for the highest share of registered vehicles at 50% and also the highest number of road crash deaths at 51% in 2006, the highest number of deaths per lakh population were reported in the Union Territories. While Puducherry stood at 21 followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli, among states, it’s Goa at 20 and Haryana at 17.4.

Also, in terms of number of persons killed per lakh populations in 2006, it is Lucknow at the highest with 19, followed by Vishakhapatnam at 18 and Chennai and Indore at 16 each. Delhi comes at 14, below Coimbatore and Kanpur.