India
The Republic of India consists of 28 states and 7 union territories. It is a vast country covering a land area of nearly 3 million square kilometers and has a great diversity in people, culture and geography. Its population passed the billion mark in 2002 and, in spite of strong economic growth (currently over 4 percent), there are an estimated 25 percent living on less than $1 per day. India is also characterised by extremely large cities. There are at least 23 cities with over 1 million inhabitants. The largest, Mumbai, has a population of over 17 million.
Road Safety in IndiaProjects |
Facts
Roads
India has the second largest road network in the world with over 3 million km of roads of which 46% are paved. These roads carry an estimated 60% of freight and 80% of passengers and they make a vital contribution to India’s economy. The road traffic contains an incredible mix of pedestrians, animal drawn vehicles, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks. On the whole the facilities for the large number of non-motorised road users are poor and the 40 million vehicles using the roads have a terrible toll on human life, killing over 80,000 people with over one third of a million victims requiring hospital treatment. These crashes not only cause considerable suffering and hardship but they also have a major impact on the country’s economy, costing an estimated Rs 300 billion or more than 3% of India’s GDP every year.
Road safety situation
In the state of Karnataka, there were over 6,500 deaths on the roads in 2006 and nearly 50,000 injuries. Because of high levels of under reporting the true figures are likely to be much higher, particularly for the non-fatal crashes and less serious injuries. One hospital study indicated that the real death toll could be 20 - 30 % higher and the injuries almost double the official statistics. In Bangalore with 915 deaths in 2006, the road crash and casualty statistics indicated that 39% of victims were drivers or passengers of two wheelers, 23% were pedestrians, the majority of those killed or injured were 20-29 years old, 80% of victims were male, alcohol was suspected in 10% of crashes, over 60% of victims suffered head injuries and 41% of crashes involved buses, minibuses and trucks.
India in general has a positive approach to government partnerships with businesses and civil society. In the city of Bangalore, road safety is very much led by the Police. The Police can use the revenue from traffic fines for road safety improvements and they are addressing a number of key issues with support from many responsible stakeholders including GRSP.
The key features of the casualties are: 39% are two wheeler riders and passengers, 23% are pedestrians, the main age group of road traffic victims is 20-29 years, 80% are male but the proportion of women victims is increasing. Alcohol is suspected in 10% of road crash victims, over 60% of whom suffer head injuries. 41% of crashes involve buses, minibuses and trucks. Clearly two wheelers and pedestrians are the most vulnerable whereas many of the vehicles involved are public service vehicles.
Road safety coordination and stakeholders
To tackle this serious and growing toll of deaths and injuries, the government of Karnataka set up multisectoral, state and local agencies to coordinate and monitor road safety interventions. These were established several years ago with a broad agenda with a focus on coordinating road safety activities. At the state level a road safety plan has been proposed but it has not yet been finalized. At the city level the Bangalore City Road Safety Committee (BCRSC) has begun to develop an action plan and it is reviewing its own role with a view to strengthening implementation and monitoring of the plan.
GRSP in Bangalore
In India GRSP began its road safety initiative with a focus on Bangalore. Bangalore was chosen because of its rapidly expanding international reputation largely through its IT industry, its strong road safety expertise and the availability of road crash data.
In 2000, GRSP together with the Police and the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) facilitated the development of a partnership road safety programme for Bangalore known as “Suraksha Sanchara” (road safety drive). BATF were tasked by the Karnataka State Chief Minister with fast tracking the development of Bangalore through partnership between the government stakeholders, the private sector and civil society. Their citizen focused approach provided a sound basis for the development of the road safety programme.
By 2005 this programme had grown in scope and size to cover a wide range of capacity building activities and road safety improvements. This growth continued in spite of the demise of BATF, which was discontinued in 2004 after a change in the State Government. After that time the GRSP coordinator continued to work closely with the City Traffic Police as the lead agency responsible for road safety. Many local partners come from the IT industry with participation of some leading business associations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). International partners have included Shell, Standard Chartered Bank, the International Centre for Alcohol Policy (ICAP), the World Bank and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In Bangalore GRSP has, with its partners, helped raise awareness about road safety and brought concerned stakeholders together to create a more united demand for safer roads for the citizens of Bangalore. Strong pressure from NIMHANS with supporting voices of CIROS , GRSP and others helped bring about the most important change for many years in Karnataka, that is the reinstatement of the helmet wearing law in 2006. Early estimates indicate wearing levels have jumped to around 80% in the centre of the city where enforcement is high.
Also as a result of GRSP’s Suraksha Sanchara, initiatives such as safe routes to school, traffic calming and safer facilities for pedestrians have become a regular part of the City’s improvement programme. For the future it is hoped that the transportation sector will take an ever increasing responsibility for setting its own road safety standards with the expansion of the Fleet Safety project in Southern India.
The GRSP facilitated programme, Suraksha Sanchara, focuses on raising awareness, building capacity and delivering and evaluating a small number of key projects based on good practice. The emphasis on improved road safety management has led to the significant step of establishing a prioritised traffic and safety plan, B-TRAC 2010.
Performance monitoring and evaluation is an integral part of the strategy. Traffic injury statistics currently indicate no clear trend for Bangalore with a drop of 8% in deaths in 2005 and an increase of 9% in 2006 which could be entirely due to the trebling of the city area covered by the police reports in the same year.
GRSP has begun exploring expanding its organisation beyond Bangalore. At the Federal level discussions have been held with (SIAM) and other stakeholders concerning the establishment of a national GRSP network. Also a visit was made to Kerala State and a tentative programme agreed focusing on helmets, drinking and driving and a hospital injury database.
Organisation of GRSP in Bangalore
GRSP has maintained its strategy of using known good practice to tackle a few key issues in Bangalore. It has done this through a strong but informal partnership between the GRSP coordinator and the Traffic Police and its formal participation in the Bangalore City Traffic Task Force for which road safety is a key priority. This powerful group coordinates the work of different stakeholders and monitors progress. GRSP is also represented on the Infrastructure Task Force, which provides an interface between the Government and the private sector to meet the very strong demands by industry for more efficient and safer roads.
GRSP has initiated a number of discussions aimed at strengthening the GRSP organisation and expanding its scope beyond Bangalore. A MoU between the Bangalore Traffic Police and GRSP was signed in May 2006. The draft document addresses sustainability by linking GRSP support to the strengthening of the road safety management process of the Bangalore Road Safety Committee chaired by the Police Commissioner.
In Bangalore GRSP has, with its partners, helped raise awareness about road safety and brought concerned stakeholders together to create a more united demand for safer roads for the citizens of Bangalore. It has set new standards and introduced new approaches such as safe routes to school and traffic calming measures which have been taken up by the key responsible agencies.
For the future, GRSP is promoting a more sustainable partnership approach by supporting the City’s Road Safety Committee with the strengthening of its management, coordination and planning roles and the inclusion of partnership initiatives in the planning process.
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Projects
Safer Roads
Workshop for NGOs in road safety (completed)
In June 2005, GRSP organised a 2 day workshop for road safety NGOs in India with support from the WHO and the Standard Chartered Bank. IRTE as one of the leading NGOs in India played a pivotal role in guiding discussions and significant contributions were made by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation from Viet Nam and BRAC from Bangladesh. The workshop was seen as very successful in making the first key step towards sharing knowledge and integrating NGO activities. The participants recommended the creation of an NGO network, a focus of advocacy on improving motorcycle helmet laws and compliance, the improvement of victim rescue and support including changing the law to encourage public participation and for the workshop to be held on an annual basis.
Area improvement schemes (ongoing)
Following the preparation of Urban Safety Guidelines by the Transport Research laboratory, UK and Bangalore University supported by DfID and a workshop led by GRSP, BATF and Bangalore University, a series of area improvement schemes were developed and implemented by the Police and the City Corporation (BMP) with technical support from GRSP. The projects were aimed at reducing congestion and improving road safety and the approach was based on 1) the systematic collection and analysis of traffic and crash data and 2) close consultation with residents and users of the selected areas. The study included an evaluation of the changes in road traffic injuries and the economic benefits. The evaluation report was completed in 2007 and some of the key benefits were:
- a 52% drop in seriously injured but no change in fatalities;
- 15 fewer deaths on one major arterial road (annual total);
- a drop from 10 to 3 serious injuries at one major intersection; and
- an estimated annual casualty cost saving of 281,000 USD.
This demonstration project has also led some important and sustainable changes in the approach to area road safety schemes in Bangalore. These include:
- area schemes are now planned on the basis of scientific investigation;
- local residents and their associations are incorporated as partners;
- traffic calming techniques are regularly adopted with a focus on pedestrian facilities and speed controls; and
- evaluation and cost benefit techniques are included as a component of all schemes.
In 2005, plans were developed for two new areas, Koramangala and Richards Town.and implementation started in2006 and 2007. Treatments have included changes in road hierarchy, one way systems, improved pedestrian facilities and a number of traffic calming measures. GRSP initiated the use of raised pedestrian crossings and these have now been installed at over 25 locations.
Safe routes to school (ongoing)
This programme was launched in 2005 by the Police and GRSP and 50 schools from both the government and private sector have joined the scheme. The key strategic element of this project was the scientific study of how children travelled to and from school and the impact on traffic and safety. Improvements agreed with the stakeholders included better public transport facilities to attract children and parents away from private transport, off road parking and drop off/pick up zones, a range of pedestrian crossing facilities protected by traffic wardens at key times and information programmes for children, parents and teachers. The initiative has led to a large increase in bussing of students to and from school, a drop in student casualties from 41 to 16 in a 6 month period and a reduction in congestion of over 20% in peak hours.
Safer Roads Users
Fleet Safety (ongoing)
60-70% of the fatal road crashes in India are reported to involve commercial transportation vehicles, mainly trucks and buses. To help tackle this problem GRSP and Shell began the preparation of a fleet safety initiative in 2006 with the aim of raising safety standards of truck operations in India. The emphasis has been on improving the whole management process. Major achievements in the initial pilot phase included the development of a fleet safety audit process, the production, delivery and evaluation of pilot training programmes for owners, managers and drivers involving 6 transporters (operating around 1500 trucks), and the organisation of a stakeholder workshop which developed and agreed a voluntary code of conduct consisting of 20 requirements covering all aspects of safe fleet management. The course evaluation indicated significant driver performance improvements under test conditions and there was strong support from the participating owners who all signed up to the voluntary code.
Shell India and GRSP collaborated on 15-16 May 2006 in a workshop in Bangalore on managing vehicle fleets from a safety perspective targeting in particular road hauliers. Over 150 individuals attended the workshop including six companies running approximately 1500 trucks in the South of India. The primary outcome of the workshop was the collaborative development of a code of conduct on fleet safety (described below) that will be piloted in Bangalore and Chennai.
The workshop was also attended by Mr. Andrew Downing Advisor GRSP, Mr. Tangaraj (IAS) Principal Secretary Transport Govt. of Karnataka, Mr. Gurinder Pal Singh President All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) and MR. B.S Sial (IPS) Director General of Police Karnataka.
The first day of the workshop was dedicated to raising awareness about the issue of fleet safety and participants contributed their suggestions to the Code during a brainstorming session. The workshop wrapped up on the second day with a lively discussion and a signing ceremony during which all participating companies singed the Voluntary Code of Conduct.
Voluntary Code of Conduct
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
- Develop a police statement with commitment to comply with law and continual improvement signed by top management.
- Identify a safety co coordinator
- To prepare annual safety plan, set safety targets, measure and review performance.
- Set up incident reporting, investigation and analysis process.
- Display safety performance.
DRIVER MANAGEMENT
- Develop driver selection procedure addressing age, experience, physical fitness background check and driving skills.
- Establish structure driver training program and periodic refreshers.
- Conduct regular toolbox meetings.
- Must wear seat belts, no driving under drugs and alcohol.
- Incentive based on quality and safety performance.
VEHICLE MANAGEMENT
- Safety belts for drivers and passengers.
- Wide angle mirrors, working electrical signals, side and rear unde run gaurds and refelcter strips and reverse alarm
- No rethreaded tires in front axel and minimum tread depth of 2 mm for all tires.
- Preventive maintenance program.
- First aid kit, fire extinguishers, cones and triangles.
JOURNEY MANAGEMENT.
- Define duty hours and weekly off
- Plan routs and establish delivery times
- Rest break- a minimum 20 min after every 4 hours.
- Vehicle tracking system- tachographs.
- Display emergency contact numbers.
Phase 2 got started in late 2006 and is managed by a consortium of Shell, GRSP, SIAM, CII and the All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC). It aims to expand the programme to 100 transporters in Southern India. By early 2007 a set of 5 training modules had been developed and 1 additional training programme had been organised using the new curriculum.
Project summary: Drink drive initiatives, Bangalore
Drinking and Driving (completed)
In the middle of 2006 it was finally possible to conduct a second road-side breathalyser survey to monitor drinking and driving trends after the publicity and enforcement campaign organised by GRSP, BATF, Police and the International Centre for Alcohol Policy (ICAP) at the end of 2002. Results indicate a massive and sustainable increase in enforcement levels with a threefold increase in cases booked and a drop in the percentage over the legal limit in the benchmark surveys from 28 to less than 1 percent. (link to project report)