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Source: The post is based on the article “A casual attitude to safety” published in “The Indian Express” on 6th June 2023.
Syllabus: GS 3 – Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Relevance: About the Lapses in Road Safety.
News: India has just witnessed its most horrific train accident in over two decades in Odisha. A bus carrying some of the injured persons from the train accident site in Balasore to a hospital had a head-on collision with a van in Bengal’s Medinipur district. This questions the issue of road safety and railway safety.
About the recent train accident and the issue of railway safety in India
| Must read: The Issue of Indian railway safety – Explained, pointwise |
What are the reasons for lapses in road safety?
There are five primary reasons for accidents — and deaths and injuries due to accidents. They are
Faulty design: Every highway, modern or old, has several well-identified “death traps”. The majority of bad accidents take place primarily because of bad design.
Poor maintenance and wear and tear: The Morbi Bridge tragedy in Gujarat is an example of poor maintenance.
Improper safety protocols and regulations: These include selling of cars that would not meet crash test regulations, poor implementation of seat belts in automobiles, etc.
Human error: This is sometimes compounded by fatigue and boredom.
Wilful flouting of safety regulations and norms: This is due to both societal attitudes as well as lack of law enforcement.
| Read more: SC directs committee to build a framework to ensure road safety |
Consumer and citizen safety has to be the priority for successive governments. Indian citizens should hold the authorities responsible for poor safety and quality enforcement.
| Must read: Road Safety in India – Explained, pointwise |
