ROAD SAFETY VISION KERALA - A SUMMARY
Among Indian states, Kerala had recorded higher road accident rate for the past five decades. Kerala had registered 1528 road accidents in 1960 which nearly doubled to 2871 in 1965. Further it almost doubled to 5639 accidents in 1975. This increasing trend continued till 1995 when it reached a staggering figure of 36,086 accidents. The State had recorded an all-time high of 41,678 accidents and 51,225 injuries in 2005. However, the fatalities remained at a lower figure of 3200 persons in 2005. Until 2005, the number of accidents per thousand vehicles in the State remained as one of the highest compared to the National average. Government of Kerala was deeply concerned over this increasing trend of accidents and the casualties. The formation of Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) in 2007 was an important step in this direction. Since then, the State Government took several initiatives in the areas of road development, black spot improvement, traffic education and road safety awareness programmes. The Authority has been taking several actions to arrest the increasing trend of road accident in the state. The concerted efforts of Police and Motor Vehicle Department in terms of sustained enforcement of helmet and seat belt use, speed regulations, traffic surveillance system, observance of lane discipline, check on drunken driving, over-speeding etc. have yielded desired results. The state experienced a decline in the absolute number of accidents since 2007. The number of accidents declined from 41,645 in 2006 to 35,013 in the year 2010. It implies that a reduction of 17 percent of accidents during the period between 2005 and 2010. The number of accidents and injuries were 35,028 and 39,999 respectively in 2013 which remained more or less the same as that of previous year. However the Government is deeply concerned about the increasing number of fatalities and casualties especially to the vulnerable road users consisting of pedestrians, two wheeler users, senior citizens and people with varying disabilities.
The Government also recognizes that road safety need to be improved upon to the level of developed nations by undertaking all tangible actions. The Government considers road safety as a major public health and economic issue which adversely affects the cross section of the society and vulnerable road users. The Government of Kerala further recognizes that road safety has to be addressed in a holistic manner by providing safer roads, proper training of drivers, effective vehicle management and sustained traffic enforcement. Keeping in mind the Government’s priority on the Road Safety and UN General Assembly Resolution proclaiming 2011-20 as a Decade of Road Safety, the Government of Kerala has come out with this Road Safety Vision Document. ROAD SAFETY VISION To Facilitate Safe Mobility to the Society MISSION Formulation of an Action Plan for Reduction of Traffic Accidents in Kerala and its implementation in a coordinated way. TARGETS TO BE ACHIEVED
• To reduce traffic accidents to 50% of the current level by 2020 and to maintain zero growth level further.
• To ensure zero accidents at railway level crossings in the state by manning all unmanned level crossings and upgrade them to manned level crossings and rail over bridges by 2015.
• To reduce the severity of road accidents by enforcing the seat belt and helmet use, and strict compliance of speed governors by heavy vehicles.
• To minimise loss of lives due to delay in evacuation and transfer of accident victims to first-aid/ trauma care centres and ensure quality medical attention within the minimum response time, say 60 minutes.
• To educate road users through various means about the basic road rules. • To impart training to drivers the importance of defensive driving, courtesy and respect to fellow drivers/ road users.
• To strengthen the identified Research Institutions in the state for R & D support on Road Safety Action Plan involving Four E’s namely: Engineering, Education, Enforcement, Emergency Response System suitable to Kerala conditions and also prepare accident analysis reports, data base management, investigation of causative factors and accident reconstruction methods.
REALISATION OF TARGET
The following are the tasks identified to realise the above targets:
• Establishment of necessary infrastructure to carry out routine accident investigations and conduct safety audit of highways, identify stretches having defective road geometrics, lack of road-side appurtenances and safety devices • Strict enforcement against all traffic violations using intelligent transport system such as radar speed check devices, surveillance cameras, GPS/GIS enabled accident management system.
• Compulsory Inspection & Certification of transport vehicles every year including safety and emission norms and link registration/insurance of vehicles with Inspection & Certification.
• Establishing post-accident trauma care facilities desirably at 10 km. radius on National and State Highways and ensuring medical care to accident victims within minimum response time (say 20 to 30 minutes).
• Encouraging private sector participation in rescue, evacuation and trauma care of accident victims for effective delivery of emergency relief services.
• Encouraging NGOs and other expert agencies in spreading road safety messages and conduct road safety awareness campaigns public on defensive driving and safe journey. to educate
• Setting standards for safe design of roads by providing speed reduction devices, traffic sign boards, signals, pedestrian facilities and adequate parking supply.
• Improve sight distances at curves and junctions by removing all obstructions such as structures, trees, compound walls etc. and by enacting necessary land use control legislation
• Introduction of activity based traffic education in school curriculum.
• Soft policing on first time traffic violators and educating them the type of violation and its impact of other road users.
• Hard policing and strict enforcement on habitual traffic violators with the help of ITS technologies such as surveillance cameras, interceptors and other advanced automated traffic control devices. Strategies should be evolved for sustained enforcement on overspeed, rash driving, nonwearing of seat belt and helmet, using mobile phone while driving, drunken driving and other traffic rule violations.
• Improve the quality of accident data-base for R & D purposes and decision support system.
• Equip the Motor Vehicle Department as an expert agency for dealing with all matters of motor vehicles, evaluation of their fitness, issuing/renewal of driving licences and other permits on most scientific and efficient way, comparable to world standards.
• Strengthening of Kerala Road Safety Authority with adequate technical man-power, capacity building and research functions to provide an institutional framework for a coordinated approach to prevent road accidents.
POLICY VISION FOR ZERO TOLERANCE
The World Health Organisation slogan, “Road Safety is No Accident” actually means zero tolerance of all causes/factors of accidents. Such an approach of zero tolerance is based on the following principles:
i) Priority- Human life and health are paramount, and safety consideration should take priority over mobility.
ii) Human Error s - Human beings are prone to make errors due to their physical, mental and driving limitations. Therefore, transportation system should be designed to such a level of safety so that the scope for human errors is minimized and the harm is reduced when they occur.
iii) Public Concern- Safety of all segments of road uses must be the main concern of any road safety policy. Providers, enforcers and health authority must guarantee the best safety standards for all citizens, be they motorist, pedestrians, school children, elderly people, disabled persons, females or any other group.
Further under zero tolerance, accident control measures would involve following four steps:
i) Reduce the exposure to traffic - efficient transportation, speed lanes and lane discipline and controlled land use are the important step to reduce risks from exposure to traffic.
ii) Reduce the chances of accidents - it would require the three E’s, viz., Traffic Engineering, Traffic Enforcement and Traffic Education.
iii) Reduce the post-accidents harm - it would require an efficient and effective emergency medical response system i.e. quick treatment of accident victims. The present practice of avoidance or referring of victims on various pretexts by private hospitals need to be effectively dealt with.
iv) Reduce the harm done when accident occur - it would require better safety standards of vehicles and use of safety equipments by occupants/drivers of vehicles, such as seat belts, helmets airbags, etc. In this background, the State would attempt to reduce the annual frequency of accidents to about 18000 from the present level of 35,000 by 2020 and to maintain zero growth further on in accordance to the UN Resolution. Further, road safety issues would be taken in a holistic manner by covering accident abatement measures, accident insurance and compensation, early settlement of accident cases, and rehabilitation programmes for accident victims. Special consideration would be given to the disadvantageous section of the society and vulnerable road users.
CAUSE OF ACCIDENT AND MITIGATIVE MEASURES Reasons for accidents and Causative factors Accidents occur due to combination of the following causative factors: DUVERT
1 Driver related
2 User related
3 Vehicle related
4 Environment related
5 Road related
6 Traffic related
Driver related prominent causes
1 Lack of driving skills
2 Lack of knowledge or non adherence of traffic rules
3 Drink driving and addiction to drugs
4 Fatigue and sleepless driving
5 Visual acuity of drivers
6 Not dimming the lights at night.
7 Over speeding and wrong overtaking manoeuvres at curves
Pedestrian/road user related causes
1 Non adherence to traffic rules
2 Careless walking on the carriageway 3 Crossing the road abruptly
4 Playing on the road by children
5 Careless boarding and alighting and sudden opening of doors of vehicles
6 Stretching the hands outside the vehicle
7 Carrying hazardous materials and over dimensional cargo in vehicles
8 Mental aberration and social tensions 9 Unmindful of fellow passengers
10 Use of intoxicants while walking/riding
11 Visual acuity problems
12 Not showing signals while turning, stopping and crossing the road
13 Lack of road discipline
14 Non obedience of traffic signal
Vehicle related causes
1 Lack of timely inspection and maintenance of vehicle
2 Usage of older vehicles on road
3 Poor vehicle lighting
4 Carrying hazardous material and oversized goods
5 Lack of in vehicle safety measure
Road related causes
1 Narrow road, weak culvert/bridge
2 Encroachments on road side
3 Distresses on the pavement
4 Level difference between carriageway edge and shoulders
5 Improper lane marking
6 Absence of proper signage system
7 Absence of adequate shoulders or service lanes
8 Absence of pedestrian facilities
9 Poor road geometrics
10 Slippery road surface
11 Improper design of super elevation 12 Poor street lighting facilities
13 Digging road for public utilities
14 Improper road side appurtenances
15 Lack of vertical clearance at bridges 16 Bill boards/road side advertisement 17 Lack of traffic control devices
18 Ribbon type land use development 19 Lack of safety barriers and traffic channelizers.
20 Elements of surprise like check barriers, speed breakers etc.
21 Unorganised on-street parking
22 Poor drainage
23 Lack of segregated bus bays
24 Parking of vehicles at the bell mouth of junctions
Traffic related causes
1 Dynamic and unpredictable nature of traffic
2 Traffic congestion and traffic conflicts at junctions
3 Heterogeneous traffic
4 Intermixing of through traffic with local traffic
