Accident and Road Safety Management in India

Pawar, Digvijay S (2017) Accident and Road Safety Management in India. In: 10th ATRANS Annual Conference on Transportation for a Better Life: Mobility and Road Safety Managements 18 August 2017, 18 August 2017, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Abstract

India has one of the highest motorization growth in the world accompanied by a rapid expansion in road network and urbanization. The country has been facing various issues and impacts on road safety level. The country is dedicated to reduce the number road crashes and related fatalities by 50% by 2020. The traffic on Indian urban and rural roads is heterogeneous, which is characterized by a) large variations in vehicle characteristics, b) absence of lane-based movements, c) aggressive driving, and d) weak enforcement of traffic rules. According to Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) the analysis of road accident data for the year 2015 revealed that about 1,374 accidents and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads which further translates into 57 accidents and loss of 17 lives on an average every hour in our country. As per the data recorded, drivers’ fault has been revealed as the single most responsible factor for road accidents. Drivers’ fault accounted for 77.1% of total road accidents during 2015 as against 78.8% during 2014. The report also revealed that about 49% of total accidents took place at traffic junctions in 2015 in which 31,807 (12.9%) road accidents were reported at signalized intersections. A total of 7,648 persons were reported dead and 29,987 people were reported injured in 2015. The drivers in India are reported to be aggressive in nature and due to lack of proper enforcement of traffic rules, the accident rate is increasing every year. Road intersections are the primary bottlenecks in a given network; this is because the intersection space needs to be shared by the vehicles moving in different directions. An intersection has many crossing and merging conflicts points for vehicles. Additionally, pedestrians also usually cross roads at intersections, resulting in many more pedestrian vehicle conflicts points. The large number of vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to pedestrian conflicts are the potential cause of accidents at intersections. A better understanding of the driver/pedestrian behavior while crossing controlled and uncontrolled road sections, traffic characteristics and environmental factors that significantly contribute to increased crash risk will help guide the way to targeted design solution. There is a need to develop robust driver and pedestrian behavioral models based on a broad set of data collected at various locations, and to gain a better understanding of the true dynamics of drivers and pedestrians at signalized/unsignalized intersections and mid-block locations. To fulfil this need, this study developed enhanced behavioral models for gap acceptance behavior and dilemma behavior at unsignalized and signalized intersections based on empirical observations at intersections and mid-block pedestrian crossings.

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