Improving road safety could save 30,000 lives in India annually: Study

Improving road safety measures could save nearly 30,000 lives in India every year, reveals a study by Lancet. The study also points out that the majority of the road accidents in India are caused by overspeeding, drunk driving, lack of helmet-wearing habits of two-wheeler riders and lack of seatbelt use. The study claims that interventions to prevent drivers from overspeeding could save 20,554 lives, while the promotion of crash helmets could save 5,683 lives in the country. Also, encouraging the use of seatbelts can save 3,204 lives in the country every year, concludes the research. While drunk driving is one of the major reasons behind a large number of accidents, the estimate for this has not been mentioned in the study.

Not only India but the study also took into account global road accidents. UIt claims that globally, road accidents kill over 13.5 lakh people every year, with more than 90 per cent of those fatalities occurring in low and middle-income countries.

In an attempt to curb the alarmingly high number of road accidents and related fatalities, the study calls for increased political and financial commitments and for road safety to be included in mainstream development policies.

Speaking about this study, Adnan Hyder from The George Washington University, US, said that most road accident-related deaths are preventable, but sadly the number of fatalities continues to rise in low-income countries while progress in high-income countries has slowed over the past decade. "With the second United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030) underway, our work for this series clearly shows that proven road safety measures can save lives in all countries, rich and poor alike," he further said.