Recommending a safe-systems approach for road safety in Karnataka, the State’s Health Vision report, 2021, has emphasised the need for defined action plans to achieve the 50% reduction of deaths as per the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and global road safety targets. Karnataka ranks fourth in the country for the number of fatal road crashes.
The report, which was released early this week, has noted that road traffic injuries (RTIs) and deaths have been increasing at an alarming pace in Karnataka. “After adjusting for underreporting for the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) data, it is estimated that nearly 13,000 deaths, 4,00,000 severe RTIs and nearly 1,00,00,000 mild injuries occurred in Karnataka in 2019,” stated the report.
Productive population
Former director of NIMHANS G. Gururaj, who is the chairman of the Karnataka Health Vision Group as well as the committee on ‘Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion’, told The Hindu on Saturday that RTIs occur predominantly in males in the age group of 15 to 45 years, in economically productive populations and in the poor and middle-income sections of the society.
“RTIs place a huge burden on the health systems for care and rehabilitation services for the affected persons. Nearly 65% of road deaths in Karnataka occurred in the age group of 18 to 44 years and among the younger and productive sections of the population. Nearly 80% of crashes and 88% of deaths occur in the rural parts of the State indicating the need for strengthening road safety mechanisms at district and taluka levels,” he asserted.
Studies undertaken by the WHO collaborating Centre at NIMHANS clearly indicate that three out of four deaths and injuries are among pedestrians, two wheeler riders and pillions and bicyclists.
Five pillars of road safety
Dr. Gururaj said the Vision Report has recommended that the five pillars of road safety focusing on road safety management, safe road infrastructure, safe vehicles and improving road user behaviour along with post-crash care should be implemented in all seriousness to achieve success in road safety in the State.
“The new thinking is a safe systems approach. We have been blaming the RTI victims and saying people are responsible for the accidents. But it is everyone’s responsibility including the road contractors, vehicle manufacturers as well as people. All should be involved in designing road safety with a goal to minimise road crashes and prevent death and disability,” he said.
Recommendations
Recommending that the Karnataka Road Safety Authority be strengthened with adequate manpower, technology and funding, the Vision Report stated that the Authority and the Karnataka Road Safety Policy were notified in 2015 with a vision to achieve a safe road environment for reducing road crashes by 25% and fatalities by 30% by the year 2030. However, this goal is yet to be realised, the report stated.
“Under the road safety policy, establishing a multi-road safety lead agency at the state and district levels, strengthening road crash database system, developing a safe road infrastructure, regular road safety audits, increasing road safety awareness, enhancing enforcement levels, timely medical services and increased financial protection for survivors have been proposed. However several implementation delays have halted the progress. The condition of roads are still at a very high risk level with most of the roads not even achieving a three star rating and hazard mapping is still in continuation,” the report pointed out.
“Nine districts of the State have identified 80 accident-prone areas. The safety of the vehicles that are available in the State are to be assessed even though the national ratings indicate a poor performance. The prevalence of helmet use, seat belt use, child restraint use remain at moderate levels (higher in urban central areas) while drunk-driving, speeding, use of mobile phone and poor pedestrian road safety behaviours are on the increase. These legislations should be strictly enforced,” the report said.
