Truckers' protests must prompt a rethink on road safety

An approach that creates forgiving infrastructure, shares responsibilities for accidents, and coordinates actions in the government is the need of the hour

The protests by truck drivers, which began on January 1, were called off after the Central government promised to conduct consultations regarding the provisions in the recently introduced criminal code Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which replaces the Indian Penal Code (IPC). These provisions stipulate a potential imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to ₹7 lakh for drivers convicted in hit-and-run accidents.

Noida, India- December 20, 2023: People driving on the wrong side of the road in Sector 76 to 50. December 20, 2023. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

These new measures are poised to replace the existing regulations that penalise hit-and-run incidents under Sections 279 (rash or reckless driving), 304A (causing death by negligence), and 338 (endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In exceptional cases, charges of Section 302 (murder) may be applied. Currently, the penalty for causing death due to rash and negligent driving under Section 304A is a two-year sentence.

To be sure, the new code is yet to come into effect.

The suspension of the strike brought relief to citizens, particularly for essential services like fuel and home supplies. However, can we anticipate an improvement in road safety with the implementation of the new provisions outlined in the BNS? To answer this question, we must first understand how road traffic accidents occur in India.

In India, all vehicular road accident cases are considered medico-legal cases (MLC). An MLC involves any injury or medical condition for which law enforcement agencies investigate and assign responsibility. This means that if there is an injury due to a crash in road traffic, the law enforcement agency must determine responsibility for the crash. It is challenging to pinpoint whether a pothole, a light pole in the middle of a road, or a poorly designed road curve is responsible. Consequently, the prevailing approach tends to attribute fault primarily to the driver of the larger vehicle, a methodology that is not only unscientific but also one which distorts data by reporting human error as the primary cause of road traffic fatalities.

The consequence of this flawed data reporting is evident --- as efforts to rectify these 'human errors' have not yielded tangible outcomes. This is one of the reasons why India, with less than 2% of global motor vehicles, accounts for over 11% of road traffic deaths, making it home to some of the deadliest roads globally.

It is evident that India's current approach to road safety is not effective, and it is time to reimagine it. Can we reduce road traffic deaths even as vehicle sales are rising? The answer is yes, and countries like Sweden have demonstrated that this is possible, but it requires a paradigm shift toward a safe systems approach. Vision Zero, based on four guiding principles, could serve as the foundation for India's road safety approach.

Safety always comes first: In many Indian cities, the prioritisation of speed over safety has been a persistent trend. The Vision Zero paradigm emphasises a fundamental shift, prioritising human life and health over the unrestricted movement of vehicles. Despite challenges related to traffic flow, congestion, or road capacity, the safety of all road users should never be compromised.

Create forgiving infrastructure: Traditional road safety approaches often place the responsibility on individuals to avoid mistakes. The Vision Zero approach acknowledges the inevitability of human errors and focuses on creating a system that mitigates severe consequences when errors lead to accidents. In India, with diverse traffic conditions and varying skill levels, adopting a Vision Zero perspective becomes imperative.

Sharing responsibilities: Responsibility for road safety in India is often unfairly placed solely on the police. Vision Zero recognizes the shared responsibility for safety between road users and authorities involved in planning, operating, and managing transport infrastructure and public health. It acknowledges the multi-dimensional nature of road accidents.

Coordinate actions: The effectiveness of any action involving multiple actors is maximised through coordination, and road safety is no exception. Vision Zero advocates for a comprehensive and unified effort, aligning initiatives in education, enforcement, engineering, and emergency care.

Institutional changes needed: Implementing the Vision Zero approach would necessitate institutional changes. India needs to establish a separate regulator for road safety, which would work in coordination with regulatory authorities in respective states. This authority would be responsible for planning, implementing, and monitoring road safety activities in the country. The approach is similar to the real estate regulator - the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).

This week marks the commencement of the 35th National Road Safety Week in the country. I distinctly remember that the 15th Road Safety Week coincided with the initiation of my professional career. Reflecting on the past two decades, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

The strike by the truck drivers highlighted the situation on India’s killer roads. According to a report from the ministry of road transport and highways in 2022, approximately 168,000 individuals lost their lives on Indian roads. By the time you finish reading this article, another person would have lost their life due to road accidents in India. Such a scenario is unacceptable.

Sarika Panda Bhatt is the founder and trustee of the Raahgiri Foundation and director at Nagarro. Her Twitter/X handle is @SarikaPanda. The views expressed are personal