Why do India’s roads are one of the world’s darkest

Every morning, India’s newspapers are filled with reports on road accidents – passenger buses plunged into mountain gorges, drunk drivers mowed pedestrians, cars crashed into stationary trucks, and two -wheeled vehicles were beaten by large vehicles.

These daily tragedies emphasize the silent crisis: in 2023 alone, more than 172,000 people lost their lives on Indian roads, an average of 474 deaths every day or almost one three minutes.

Although the official accident report for 2023 will not be released yet, road transport minister and highway ninth Kakari cited data Paint a gloomy picture At the road safety event in December.

Among the dead this year there were 10,000 children. The accidents near schools and colleges made another 10,000 dead, and 35,000 pedestrians lost their lives. Two -wheeled riders also carried the main severity of the death. Usually an excessive reason was the biggest reason.

The lack of major precautions also turned out to be deadly: 54,000 people were killed by the fact that they did not carry helmets and 16,000 from the safety belts.

Other main reasons included overload, leading to 12,000 deaths, and driving without a valid license, which was taken into account in 34,000 accidents. Driving the wrong side also contributed to the fatal outcome.

In 2021, in 13% of the crashes, drivers with a permission for a student or without a real license participated. Many vehicles on the road are old and there are no major security functions such as seat belts – not to mention the airbags.

This dangerous road environment is even more complicated by a chaotic mixture in India.

A strange array of users crowd of India’s roads. There are cars such as cars, buses and motorcycles fighting for space with non -engine transport, such as bicycles, cycles rickshades and staffing cars, painted animals, pedestrians and homeless animals. Hockey encroaches on roads and paths to sell their products, forcing pedestrians to busy roads and even more complicated by the moving flow.

Despite the efforts and investments, India’s roads remain one of the most dangerous in the world. Experts say it is a crisis that has been introduced not only in infrastructure, but also in human behavior, gaps in the field of law enforcement and systemic neglect. Road accidents impose considerable economic burden, India’s cost is 3% of the annual GDP.

In India is there The second largest road network in the worldImmediately after the US, covering 6.6 million kilometers (4.1 miles). National and state highways together make up about 5% of the total network, while other roads – including shiny high -speed highways, make up the rest. 350 million registered vehicles are estimated.

The Kakdari told the road safety meeting that many roads are happening because people have no respect and fear for the law.

“There are several causes of accidents, but the biggest is the behavior of a person,” he said.

But this is only a part of the picture. Only last month Gadokari pointed to Bad Practice Civil Construction – False traffic design, substandard construction and poor control – together with insufficient signage and marking, as key participants anxiously high accidents.

“The most important guilty are civil engineers … Even small things such as road signs and marking system are very poor in the country,” he said.

Since 2019, his ministry reports 59 major shortcomings in national highwaysIncluding caves, Gadokari told Parliament last month. Since 13 795 detected “black spots” prone to “black spots”Only 5,036 had a long -term fix.

For many years, road safety audits conducted by the Center for Transportation and Trauma Prevention (TRPP) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have revealed serious shortcomings in India’s infrastructure.

Take the emergency barriers. They are intended to stop the vehicles that come off from the road – without flipping them. But in many places they do the opposite.

Despite the clear standards for height, intervals and installations, on Earth often tells about another story: metal barriers at the wrong height mounted on concrete bases or poorly placed. These disadvantages can lead to the vehicle, especially truck or bus, turn over rather than safely stop.

“If not established exactly as shown, the Crash barriers can do more harm than good,” said Geetam Tiwari, a professor at civil engineering at IIT Delhi, BBC.

Then there are high median – either road traffic, as they are called locally. On high -speed roads, the median should gently separate the movement, moving in the opposite direction. They should not be higher than 10 cm (3.9 inches), but there are many checks.

When a high -speed tire enters the median vertical, it creates heat, risks a splash of a tire or even lifts the vehicle from the ground – leading to dangerous reversals. Many median in India is simply not designed by referring to this threat.

The section of the highway near the capital, Delhi, acts as a prime example – a road that has cut through thick settlements on both sides without security measures to protect residents. Crowds of people are uncertainly on the media as fast traffic.

And then there are raised road rides. On many rural roads, he has repeatedly left the main road, which rose six -centimeters above her shoulder.

This sudden drop can be lethal – especially when the driver turns to avoid obstacles. The two -wheeled wheels are most at risk, but even the machines can bring, tip or turn over. According to experts, with each added layer, the danger continues to grow.

It is clear that the standards of India’s road design are solid – but poorly executed on the ground.

“One key issue is that the failure to comply with security standards attracts minimal punishments. Treaties often do not prescribe these requirements, and payments are usually related to kilometers built – not to adhere to security standards,” says Prof.

Recently Minister Gadokari announced AMBIT Plan for Modernization of 25,000 km of double -laid highways up to four strips. “It will help to significantly reduce the accidents on the roads,” he said.

Experts such as Bhala’s coffee from the University of Chicago are skeptical. Mr. Bhala, who worked on road safety in low and medium-income countries, claims that India’s road projects often mimic Western models, ignoring unique needs in the country and infrastructure.

“There is no reason to believe that road expansion will lead to fewer deaths in motion. There is a lot of evidence that road modernization in India leads to greater traffic speed, which is a deadly pedestrian, cyclist and a motorcyclist,” he says.

“The key question is that new roads in India are simply copying road projects used in the US and Europe, where road traffic is very different. India is trying to create a US-style infrastructure, but does not invest in road safety and failure systems,” Mr. Bhala adds.

In order to fight the road safety crisis, the government “implements” 5es “strategy: road engineering, vehicle engineering, education, forced execution and emergency assistance, Says KK Kapila from the International Road Federation. (According to the report on the law of the law of India, timely ambulance can save 50% of the death traffic.)

Mr. Capilo helps the federal government in terms of road safety. He says that seven key states were asked to identify their most prone to accidents. After the introduction of purposeful interventions based on the 5es frame, these stretch marks “became the safest” in their states, he told me.

Most economists agree to create more roads that are key to India’s growth, but it must be stable and have no priority over pedestrian and cyclists.

“The price of development should not bear the poorest segments of society. The only way to learn how to build such roads is to try to make interference, to evaluate whether they improve safety and, if they do not help, change them and evaluate again,” says Mr. Bhala. If this does not happen, the roads will only be smoother, the cars are faster – and more people will die.

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