Road Safety Action Plan

Road Safety Action Plan
Steps to be taken
for Preventing
Road Accidents
Road Accident Statistics

More than 1.2 million
people are killed
in Road Accidents,
worldwide , every year.

2 to 3 % of Gross National Product
Is lost in Road Accidents.

Road Accident Statistics

One child is killed in
Road Accidents,
every three minutes
in the World.

Road Accident Statistics
Total worldwide death toll of
Tsunami of 2004 was about 230,000.

But the annual worldwide death toll of
Road Accidents is 1,200,000 !!!
i.e. more than
five times the Tsunami toll.
Steps to be taken for
preventing Road Accidents
? Most important method to bring down accidents is strict enforcement of speed limits.
? 90 % of accidents can be avoided by strict enforcement of speed limits.
? Existing speed limits should be brought down further.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Heavy Penalty should be imposed on ALL those who cross speed limits. If this is strictly implemented, nobody will dare to go at high speed.

? Heavy penalty should be imposed for those who cause accidents.


How to prevent Road Accidents
? Tamper proof speed controllers should be made mandatory for all heavy vehicles. New heavy vehicles should have built in tamper proof speed controllers.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Two wheeler manufacturers should be asked to design two wheelers with a designed maximum speed of (say) 50/60 kmph.
( Suitable speed limit may be selected for each country.)
How to prevent Road Accidents
? New gadgets are to be developed for collision prevention and should be fitted on all vehicle. Research organizations should be asked to develop such gadgets on a war footing. For example, gadgets can be developed to automatically slow down the vehicle, if safe distance commensurate with the speed of the vehicle in front is not maintained.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Diving tests for issue of Driving license is to be made more stringent and foolproof.

? Raising of lower age limit for two wheeler and Heavy Vehicle license to 21.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Helmet should be made compulsory by law in all states, OR impose a lower speed limit for those who do not use helmet.

? Helmet should be made compulsory for back seat riders also.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Ensure that all Helmet users are fixing the Chinstrap of Helmet. Otherwise it will not help during an accident.
? Ensure that ONLY good quality Helmets are available in the market.
? Strict enforcement of existing traffic rules.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Law should be modified such that the person who made the accident has to bear (say) 0 to 10 % of the insurance claims, depending on severity of negligence. Also the compensations should be made very huge, making accidents unaffordable so that everyone will be very vigilant.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? All those who do not maintain the safe distance for the speed should be punished.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Safety awareness should begin from childhood, as it is difficult to impart awareness to a grown up a human. If safety awareness is imparted at childhood, safety will be a habit.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Video / Computer Games that simulate Racing should be banned by Government OR discouraged by parents as it will develop racing habit in children.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? All sorts of Motor sports especially racing should be banned by government. Telecast of Motor Sports and Racing also should be banned.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Racing and over speed / highly risky riding, driving by Heroes should not be filmed in cinemas and TV serials. Government should censor such scenes.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Children below a certain age should not be permitted to do cycling in busy roads / roads where heavy vehicles are plying.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Refreshment parlors should be made available at (say) every 50 / 100 k.m. on all national highways and truck / heavy vehicle drivers should be forced to refresh by having a face wash or by having a cup of tea / coffee.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? The current practice of keeping the traffic signals in standby mode during nights and on holidays is to be reviewed and discontinued if found prudent.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Advertisement boards and other items that may obstruct visibility at junctions, curvatures and other parts of the roads should be removed immediately.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Ensure that the money recovered as Road Tax is fully utilised for the construction /maintenance of roads.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Time Punching of Private buses (practiced in some states) should be discontinued as it is forcing the drivers to go at high speed, after traffic blocks.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? TV and other media should be effectively used for Public safety awareness.
? Scientific analysis of major accidents / accident prone areas.
? Restriction of speed at accident prone areas.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Enactment of stringent traffic rules.
? Immediate suspension of license of those who are involved the accidents, at least until they prove that they are not guilty.
? Cancellation of license of those who make serious accidents.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Proper maintenance of roads. Permanent contracts / arrangements should be in place for maintaining all roads in good condition 24 hours a day, 365 days an year. If a gutter is repaired in time it can save a life !!!
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Strict enforcement of health of vehicles.
? Periodic eye testing of old aged driving license holders.
? Immediate cancellation of license of drunkard drivers / riders.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Setting up of Judicial Commissions to monitor steps taken to control road accidents.

? Straightening / Widening of roads, Implementation of one way traffic and construction of medians.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Footpaths and medians should be made mandatory for important roads.

? Zebra crossings should be provided for pedestrians for safe road crossings at appropriate places.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Signals for road crossings at important busy places where a large number of people have to cross the road everyday.

? Proper marking of roads and signals.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Humps should be provided at all important places, accident prone areas.
? Construction, size and shape of the Humps be scientific. All the Contractors of the Public Works / Other departments should be provided with the details of scientific Hump construction
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Humps should be clearly marked, to avoid accidents. Methods of permanent nature should be followed in Hump marking. For example white marble pieces / white color / fluorescent pigment can be included in the mixture ( if scientifically correct).
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Provision of small pilot humps few meters before humps can also be considered to ensure that humps are not left unnoticed.

? Elimination of obstructions on road sides, caused by unauthorised construction / road side sales.

How to prevent Road Accidents
? Increasing visibility near curvatures. Sometimes even cutting of grass to increase visibility can help save many lives.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Road Safety Day / Road Safety Week should be observed in all Schools, every year. Competitions on Road Safety Tips, Slogans, Essay, Painting etc should be conducted for various categories of students.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? School Buses should be painted with Bright Yellow color.
? Let ‘Road Safety’ be a mandatory topic for School Projects for all classes, every year.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? A small pool of water or a hanging branch of tree on roadsides can cause accident, as such obstructions will make the pedestrians / drivers to take sudden LATERAL movement and result in accidents. Hence any obstruction on road sides which can cause a LATERAL movement should be completely rectified timely.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Black color should not be permitted for Cycles. Preferred / Default color for Cycles should be Yellow.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Front and Back of Lorries and Trucks should be painted with bright Yellow color to increase visibility. This will help to prevent collisions while Lorries and Trucks are parked on roadside without parking lights switched on.
How to prevent Road Accidents
? Reflectors should be fixed on Front and Back of Trucks and Lorries.

? Periodic review of accident statistics to understand the effect of actions taken. Corrective steps should be taken based on these reviews.