Are we safe on our roads? If not, why?

Boasting with the second largest road network in the world, can we do the same about safety? What has made our roads unsafe? Overwhelming traffic, diverse vehicles,poor geometry, or humans? Road crashes have become so common that news on it goes unnoticed. And worse, not all crashes are reported; why take up legal hassles too?

Another dream is shattered (photo courtesy: Mr Arun T M, M.Tech Project)

A few statistics to begin with

At least 15 people die every hour and,  1.37 lakh dies every year in the country, whereas in Kerala,Nine persons die in road crashes every day,  136 persons are injured daily in crashes, amounting  to 12% of total road crashes in India, not forgetting approx 6 lakh people sustaining serious injuries and incurring a loss of 600 crores per year, as per ndtv.

The causes

Though prima-facie crashes are attributed to human error, we can't rest assured by this. Some questions need to be answered:

1. What was the time, month, week and day?

2. Which is the location Junction/straight road/curve?what about visibility ?

3. What vehicles were involved?

4. What was the weather condition?

5. What was the control conditions? Signal/islands/uncontrolled?

7. And how about the road surface?

8. What happened after the crash?

9. Was there anything unusual (an open drain/damaged footpath/some trench/bus stop)? 

10. How frequent are such crashes here? 

A few more points are important too:

Was there a sudden braking? what was the condition of the vehicles, driver(s) or pedestrians? Was the vehicle overloaded/overcrowded? Was there sufficient light? or too much (glare)? are road markings/dividers visible? The questions seem endless, and each of the above questions are dependent on many other factors. Still, we need answers to these questions. Interestingly, answer to each of these questions differs with scenario and individuals.

A case study

As part of a study we did in Thiruvananthapuram city and rural, crash locations (hotspots) were identified with the help of police records, mostly, FIRs. Here we faced the first glitch. FIRs are biased in favour of  the smaller/weaker party.This is because for a common spectator, fault is always with the larger vehicle or the only vehicle if a pedestrian is hit. Since everything is a hearsay, one can't actually figure out the real cause of the crash. In the city Karamana, Chackai , Kowdiar, 

Pappanamcode and Eastfort.are most crash prone. In the rural, kallambalam, kazhakkuttam, karatte, alamkode and mamom came in  the top five.

During the study, some locations were identified as about to become hazardous, like Uppidammodu bridge which was recently improved under the city roads development scheme. Later signals were also placed here. Even during construction of the divider (median), there were crashes (I personally had witnessed a vehicle going over the median and once I narrowly escaped from a crash due to bad lighting). The study and experiences pointed to an important aspect: it is not just enough that we provide better geometric design and control, but facility should be well lit and people should be aware of how to make use of the facility safely. We are having lot of road safety weeks and campaigns, but crashes are on the rise,  on fatality, if not on number.

The Road

Seemingly safe and comfortable, many of the city roads have hidden danger in the form of unexpected depressions. These depressions are mostly seen near the manholes like a bowl or like an inclined shallow trench resulting from an improperly filled service connection trench. Another menace are the raised or depressed manholes. Potholes, damaged islands and open construction trenches (without proper warnings) are other issues.  Recall that a person lost his life in a trench excavated  for  underpass near nemom. It may also be noted here that the traditional stoves of pongala festival burn  off the bituminous surface of the roads resulting in depressions that ultimately form potholes.Another hazard is the edge drop, a result of new layers being added to the existing road surface. 

Hidden signs, obstructing post and damaged median at PRS, Karamana

(photo courtesy: Rajesh and team, B.Tech)

Garbage

Though it may not seem to fit here, dumping garbage on roads has a role to play.They reduce thewidth of roads and force pedestrians to walk on roads; they can also render roads slippery.

Glare: a villain

A field study conducted at night revealed the hazard of glare. Through illegal modifications to headlights, people are achieving better lighting in front of their vehicles, but unaware of or not caring for the fact that the same would bind an oncoming driver.

With power-enhanced headlights; visibility of road is reserved to the privileged.

(an observation from chackai, photo courtesy: Mr. Joe Joseph)

Visibility around corners

At sharp corners and at cross roads, visibility around the corner is a deciding factor in safety. Shop owners encroaching the footpaths seldom realise that they are adding to the lack of visibility. So are the people who park at junctions and curves. The issue was found more prominent at junctions between plamood and pattom, peroorkada, poojappura and thiruvallom. 

Improper location of signs

At many places in the city warning signs such as "bump ahead" are placed too close to the bump, or in many cases either are tampered with or not visible thanks to a hit and run. many of the skidding crashes and rear end crashes occur due to this. Due to lack of space, signs are located on the middle of footpaths, accompanied by signal posts, lamp post and trees too! Any space left by these are occupied by cars. Where will the pedestrians walk?  

The human side

Having said all these, we need to look at what a human being does on the road. Let us take a pedestrian for instance. It has almost become a prejudice that rules are not applicable for pedestrians. A vast majority would walk anywhere on the road, except foot path and  cross at any point, except on the zebra lines, violate pedestrian signals, run to cross road, would stand anywhere to have a chat, get in to or out of a bus at the middle of the road, cross from behind a parked bus; all the time keeping others guessing. Recently the city bus stand at East fort reported many run-over cases. Before blaming KSRTC, these points are to be considered.

Driving

Driving license seems to be license to do anything on road. Moving at high speeds, sudden manoeuvres, overtaking through left (come on! do you want to say that you didn't see "do not overtake through the left" written on the back of the bus?), jumping red, stopping anywhere on road, turning from the left most side of road to the right at signals, using wrong side of median, are just a few of these. It is hard to find a vehicle stopped behind the stop line. Most of them would be on the zebra crossing, or even further beyond, if no policemen are there. 

For many amber light is to "accelerate without care" instead of "proceed with caution or better stop". Interestingly, all these happen in front of cameras. Timer is like count down for rocket launch. Talking about manoeuvres, autorickshaws are the worst. A sudden stop out of the blues followed by a u-turn is not surprising,better others be watchful! How many of these drivers are aware that even a small hit could cost a fortune for the victim? If hit at a speed of 60kmph, it is like dropping from a  multi-storied building.

A word about safety devices here:  Helmet is a menace for many, so they would keep it at any place:  front of bike, behind bike, on the sides, in their arms, with the pillion riders, anywhere but their head. If at all they would keep it on their heads, it is to ward off police, not death. Many would not lock their chin straps. Needless to speak about seat belts. and kids on two wheelers! Recently I saw a lady riding a two-wheeler with a toddler (just having height up to seat level) standing on the platform facing her! Overloading of two wheelers with baggage is another serious problem. I had witnessed an overloaded two wheeler losing balance and the driver (a lady) getting a serious head injury on NH by pass near chackai.

Parking

Parking is another zone where rules vanish in to thin air. No matter how many lanes are added, illegal parking eats away one or even more of the lanes. Strict control of parking is essential, but only after providing a better place to park. Unauthorised no-parking boards placed by shop owners need to be removed and replaced where necessary by government-installed signs. 

Putting it all together

Every citizen, no matter who they are: road user, authority or resident,  has the responsibility to ensure safety. Authorities need to first discuss with the public before some modifications are done to a road facility, assure them of safety and ensure they are aware of the new rules. Pedestrians are to be  educated to use foot paths, that's not just enough. Violators (be in any manner) need to be penalised. But before taking this step, it is to be ensured that they are provided with an obstruction (encroachment) free footpath. 

Similarly, buses should stop near the side and not on the middle of the road. then alone can a person be asked to board the bus from the road side. Geometry of many junctions require improvement, including relocation of lamp posts and the like.  In a nutshell, from cure mode we need to think in prevention mode.

Tail lamp: Violation of helmet rules have grown to such an extent that I once overheard a petrol pump employee saying "let us give helmets on rent". it is impossible to discuss all factors in such a short span of time, but this post would be updated. comments are most welcome.

Acknowledgments: Transportation Research Centre, College of Engineering Trivandrum,   my students Mr. Joe Joseph, Mr . Arun T. and Ms. Rosemary Xavier(M.Tech.); Rajesh S, Harikrishnan AV, Vishnu R. Pradeep, Shuhail H, Adarsh SV, Aswin PC and Lalhmingliani (B.Tech).