The Global Decade for Road Safety is in its fifth year, but things remain as dismal and bloody they were. Experts believe that the focus needs a paradigm shift from 'what can be done' to 'who ought to do what' for things to change. With some 15 agencies/departments/ministries being involved in the process for instance in a place like Karnataka, the time has come for a wholesome sectoral and planning integration.
The need of the hour is one of evidence-driven approaches, says G Gururaj of NIMHANs who has done seminal work on road safety issues in Bangalore. He points out that though the issue has been in the limelight since the early 2000s, the graphs of disabilities, deaths and hospitalisations has not come down. Dr Gururaj says that at a time when road accident casualties in India increased by 180 per cent, hight-income countries were able to bring their respective tolls down. This, he argues, was done through innovative measures. "There is a lot of concern, but little action," he adds.
The action required, points out civic expert Ashwin Mahesh of MapUnity, should be a culture of continuous interventions. He says that just as technical problems need to be fixed by a tehnician, social problems need to be fixed by the people. "We need to create an ecosystem of problem-solving," he asserts. Mahesh believes that road safety weeks that are observed once a year don't work; what does are measures that require continuous interventions.
Sunish Jauhari of Ashoka, which on Thursday launched a competition for ideas that make roads safer for everyone, talks of the importance of crowdsourcing in this context. Jauhari says people's solutions have to emanate from people's ideas. "We need to listen more," he argues, and believes that all this can't happen without a support system.
Dr Ashwin Naik of Vaatsalya, who has closely observed this system in rural areas, thinks that most accidents are preventable. Dr Naik, who has been associated with the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on road safety related issues, says the problem is not about enforcing laws. And educating drivers/motorists should not be done in a campaign format.
The mess can be sorted out by better coordination among agencies like the transport, health and police departments, besides the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which needs to ensure the infrastructure itself is able to handle accidents, especially trauma cases, says Dr Gururaj. He calls for a proper road management system to be put in place.
Yet, it is not right to blame the system alone. For instance, with their hi-tech gadgets and instrumentation in place, the city traffic police can facilitate the movement of ambulances through busy areas whenever needed. However, one of the reasons why this has not worked out according to Mahesh is that hospitals have been lax in equipping their ambulances with GPS devices.
Experts are in agreement that the issue cannot be resolved without involvement of the largest stakeholder group: the people. RA Venkitachalam, vice-president (public safety mission) with Underwriters Laboratories, which is partnering Ashoka in the road safety initative, says, "Things cannot be done without the participation of all stakeholders."
Mahesh sums it up saying, "The integration (of all agencies/departments) can happen only through citizens' iniatives. There has to be both sectoral and planning integrations."
Get Rs3L to come up with a road safety solution
If you have that one 'big idea' that can resolve the road safety issue once and for all, here's the chance to be rewarded for it.
Ashoka, the foundation that supports social entrepreneurs around the world, has launched a competition 'Safer Roads, Safer India' that will crowdsource innovations that enhance road safety.
The six best ideas will be awarded prozes worth Rs3 lakh each, and one of the chosen ideas will be piloted in Bangalore. The initiative is being launched in collaboration with UL (Underwriters Laboratories), a global safety science leader. the two organisations have come together to active road sefty networks in India.
The initiative, of which the competition is a part, is meant to connectactive citizens, social innovators, policymakers, business leaders, and other stakeholders working towards transforming India's roads and saving lives.
The last date for submitting ideas is June 4, and details of the competition can be accessed at http://www.changemakers.com/saferoads.
As a first step towards realising this goal, the 'Safer Roads, Safer India'competition will identify the best solutions based for four categories: active citizenship, technology, policy and governance, and small urban design. Two additional prizes will be given to the most innovative idea and the people's choice idea.
A panel of experts headed by Dinesh Mohan, Henry Ford Professor for Biomechanics and Transportation Safety at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, will pick the winning ideas for their innovation, ease of implementation, impact and sustainability.
"The competition aims to support system changing disruptive creative ideas so as to ignite change for achieving safer roads in India," said Ashoka's country director, Vishnu Swaminathan.
