New Delhi: Observing that India accounts for
10 per cent of traffic mishap deaths in the world, road safety
experts Sunday said "simple solutions" like proper road
marking, monitoring of crossings through cameras and
re-engineering of roads can help reduce the fatalities.
As per WHO estimates, India reports about 1.3 lakh road
mishap deaths a year, they said at a conference on accident
prevention organised by the International Road Federation.
"The major causes of such mishaps in India seem to be
poorly built roads shared by pedestrians, animal and
human-driven carts, rickshaws and bicycles, and weak or
inadequately enforced traffic safety laws," Alan Ross, a road
safety expert from the UK, said.
Most of such deaths and injuries can be prevented by
simple road safety solutions including wearing helmets by
two-wheeler drivers, promoting safer behaviour, proper marking
of roads, reclaiming of sidewalks from encroachers and regular
road audits to identify accident-prone spots, he added.
"India does not need high technology solutions to curb
road deaths. Simple solutions like fully functional traffic
lights with high visibility, monitoring of crossings through
cameras, running road safety campaigns and re-engineering of
roads can work wonders," Tanmoy Chakraborty, Vice President of
TCS Advanced Traffic Management System division, said.
More than 300 road experts from the country and the world
took part in the two-day event.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 18:20