[Answered] Road safety is a universal concern, only megacities of India witnesses thousands of accidents annually. In this regard, suggest some remedial measures with special focus on the Delhi model.

Globally, road accidents account for 1.3 million deaths and 50 million injuries. According to World Bank report, India has 1% of the world’s vehicles but accounts for 11% of all road crash deaths, highest in the world. The data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed that Maharashtra has recorded the second-highest number of deaths in terms of total traffic accident deaths recorded in 2020.

There are the following measures that can be adopted to reduce road accidents:

• There is need to focus on stricter norms of traffic rule especially on drunk driving, over speeding, helmets, seatbelts and identifying black spots.
• The Delhi government has now initiated a drive to enforce lane discipline and automated driving test centers to reduce the margin of human intervention. These can be replicated at the country level.
• Our roads need to make spaces for all user- pedestrians, cyclists, buses and other vehicles. This necessitates remodeling our roads with intuitive road designs and signages, which mark out different zones of road usage.
• The speeding cameras with the automatic number plate recognition system, installed by Delhi traffic police saw a slowdown of vehicles in the city. This could be helpful in other states and UTs.
• Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solution integrates all options of public mobility on a common digital platform. A government-backed digital aggregator of all mobility options would make public transport more efficient and provide inbuilt solutions for last-mile and first-mile connectivity.
• Delhi Government’s “Good Samaritans” policy offers incentive of Rs 2,000 and also appreciation certificate to those people who help road accident victims. This can be adopted at the national level.

It is important that road users and people, in general, are sensitized about the norms and spirit of road safety. The onus of change lies as much on citizens as on the government. In line with reducing road accidents, India has already signed the Brasilia declaration.