India: 426 die each day in road accidents; 18 per hour
Road accidents in India (Representative image)
India accounts for a mere three percent of the world’s vehicular population, but a shocking 12 per cent of the world’s road fatalities are reported in India.
According to National Crime Records Bureau data, over 1.55 lakh lives were lost in road crashes across India in 2021 - an average of 426 daily or 18 every single hour - which is the highest death figures recorded in any calendar year so far.
Besides the deaths, 3.71 lakh people were also injured in 4.03 lakh road accidents across the country in 2021.
The NCRB report's data for 2021 also suggested that public transport, like buses, was safer than private modes of conveyance, like motorcycles, cars etc.
The highest number of road accidents every year is attributed to negligent driving and speeding.
This raises a big concern over road safety in India. Experts say, taking care of yourself while driving is the most important thing to do by using safety accessories in the car. And one must know the safety functions like airbags and seat belts in the car.
In India, people wearing seat belts is a rare sight. All the cars have rear seat belts (back seat belts), but we have seen very few people using them in India’s financial capital city Mumbai.
"When I am driving locally, I do not use the safety feature of the back seat belt. But when we are on the national highway, we use it sometimes but maximum times we forget to use the back seat belt", says Parth Shah, a resident of Mumbai.
Another Mumbai resident said she never usedthe back seat belt at all as she doesn’t find it necessary.
What we also observed was a lack of awareness regarding rules. People are aware of rules for front passengers to wear seat belts, but maximum were unaware that there is a rule for passengers in the rear seats (back seats) as well.
As stated in Rule 138 (3) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR),“The driver and the person seated in the front seat or the persons occupying front facing rear seats, as the case may be, wear the seat belts while the vehicle is in motion. Failure to do so can result in a fine of Rs 1,000”.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), the use of rear seat belts can prevent fatality by 25 per cent, and also prevent excess injury or death for the front seat passenger.
Wearing a seat belt while sitting in the rear seat can help reduce the chances of a fatal injury considerably. In case of a collision, an unbuckled passenger will be pushed forward to collide with the front seat or even the dashboard.
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