Road Safety Programmes In Delhi

(Supported by Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Govt of India; as well as Transport Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi)

I. Addressing the Challenge:

The human and economic damage caused by road crashes is largely preventable. Lack of knowledge and awareness regarding road traffic rules and regulations, violation of traffic rules, flaws in road design and engineering, coupled with driver behavior, can be overcome with concerted effort.

Institutional Dimensions:
Institutional frameworks are being put in place to deal with the growing level of traffic in highways, metropolitan, urban and commercial areas. Setting up agencies with a separate budget and the power to enforce regulations to address road safety at an institutional level would be an important step forward.

Behavioral Dimensions:
Lack of awareness and consciousness about road safety among road users, planners and engineers, exacerbates the problem. Drivers, for instance, are often not conscious of the inherent risks of high travel speeds, and overcrowded passenger buses. This problem can be mitigated with public awareness campaigns, improved driver training and testing, and better trained enforcement personnel and engineers. Standardizing the collection of collision data can also bridge a very significant informational gap.

Engineering Dimensions:
Road safety audits need to be conducted by road agencies as an important crash prevention measure. Important design and traffic calming measures such as median drivers, speed bumps, rumble strips, road markings, traffic signs, and roundabouts are usually not present in most of these countries. Moreover, because much of the traffic in India consists not of motorized vehicles but rather bicycles and pedestrians, the building of separate non-motorized traffic and motorcycle lanes to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and a safe environment is imperative.

In the year 2004, as per the data released by the Delhi Traffic Police, 9083 road accidents were recorded of which 1782 were fatal and involving the death 1832 persons.

As road user error is believed to be a factor 95 percent of all road accidents, improving road user behavior should always be priority. With the ability to educate and influence the general public, road safety publicity is needed in order to:

• Create awareness of road accident threats and vulnerability of certain road users, especially school children;
• Educate road users as to what constitutes road user behavior;
• Change attitudes and beliefs to more positive road safety approach; and
• Inform road users of change in traffic regulations or operating conditions.

The programme on Road Safety was conducted for school children in Delhi with the objective of educating and influencing the school children about basic road safety behavior, norms, rules and regulations. Further, the programme aims at improving road safety behavior of school children and raising their awareness level with regard to safety measures, traffic rules, regulations and related safety procedures.

The Road Safety is a regular part of our ongoing programmes targeting school children in Delhi since 2001.