We got very good support from the media as two leading newspapers (The Tribune and The Times of India) did “Feature Stories”. One of them targeted the problems faced by pedestrians and avoidable congestion caused by the cars and the second highlighted the apathy of the Administration towards the infrastructure required for Safe Walking.

Activity 1
Photos of danger prone areas for pedestrians clicked and submitted to the City Administration
Date: 20th April 2013 – 12th May 2013
Location: Different locations in the City
Our volunteers travelled in different areas of the City and clicked photos of areas where pedestrians face problems while crossing the roads. Photos and videos were also clicked of areas where the pedestrian walkways are unusable forcing the pedestrians to walk on the road.

Activity 2
“Divine Intervention” to Save Pedestrians
Date: 10th May 2013
Location: Road Dividing Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PGIMER) and Panjab University, Chandigarh (PU) at Chandigarh
Hundreds of patients come to the PGIMER come for their treatment daily, many of them disabled or sick and having problems crossing the road. The fast moving cars honk at them forcing them to rush and cross the roads hence further disturbing them. TLSW was held with a volunteer dressed up at Lord Rama, seventh Avatar of God Vishnu in Hinduism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama) leading and offering his hand to the needy so they cross the road safely with his divine intervention. This is a message to the decision makes to make necessary modifications to the road infrastructure near the premier Hospital and the University so the speed of the vehicles is reduced and the area is made pedestrian friendly. Besides this, it also served as a reminder to the vehicle users to respect the pedestrians and allow them to cross the road safely. The road has posted speed of 65Km/Hr., which is the highest in the city. We have taken up the issue with the Administration to reduce the speed on this road.

Activity 3
TLSW with over 80 School Students and officials of Haryana Police
Date: 9th May 2013
Location: From S.D. School to Clock Tower, Karnal (City Center)
ArriveSAFE and Karnal Police with more than 80 school students and members of Road Safety Organization, Karnal participated in the WALK from S.D. School to the busy Clock Tower Chowk on the Railways Road. The Superintendent of Police (Head of the District Police), Karnal Mr Shashank Anand, joined the WALK. The volunteers carried the messages to “Make Roads Safe for the Pedestrians.” The city lacks pedestrian walkway and the pedestrians; mostly school students and senior citizens have to walk on the roads.

Activity 4
Messages on the “Boom Barriers” of Toll Plaza on National Highway 1
Date: 9th May 2013 – 12th May 2013
Location: Toll Plaza near Karnal on the busy National Highway 1 that connects Delhi, Capital of India to the States of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
NH1 is one of the busiest roads in the country with more than twenty five thousand vehicles [Survey by RITES, India] crossing it everyday. The “RESPECT PEDESTRIANS” message was put on 14 “boom barriers” so it is visible at least to the driver and co-­‐driver. Posters emphasizing the importance of pedestrians sent by the World Health Organization were also put on the Toll Plaza. The message reached out to at least 200,000 people considering there are two persons in the vehicle, on an average.

Activity 5
TLSW with over 400 ArriveSAFE Volunteers, a Stilt Walker and Cyclist on a 10 Feet High Cycle
Date: 6th May 2013
Location: From Sector 16 to Plaza, Sector 17 (City Center); Chandigarh
The Inspector General of Police, Chandigarh, Mr.R.P Upadhyay flagged off the WALK. The SSP, Traffic and Security, Chandigarh, Mr. Maneesh Chaudhry and officials of Chandigarh Traffic Police joined the WALK with the volunteers. The volunteers WALKED in an organized manner shouting “Safe walking -­‐ Our right”. A “stilt walker” with messages to Respect Pedestrians, assisted children in crossing the road on Zebra Crossing. The 12 feet tall “stilt walker” and the 10 feet high cyclist highlighted the importance of pedestrians and non-­‐motorized vehicles in the urban transport system. We had anticipated 150 volunteers but were overwhelmed to have 400 people joining the WALK.

Actvity 6
TLSW with student of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 45, Chandigarh (GSSS45)
Date: 30th April 2013
Location: From GSSS45 to the National Highway 21 (NH21) that crosses along the outer area of the City
Most students of this school live in the slums along the busy NH21. They cross the busy NH21 twice a day to attend the school. They have to encounter fast moving traffic and there are no pedestrian walkways. More than 80 students of GSSS45 along with ArriveSAFE volunteers and officers of Chandigarh Traffic Police conducted the WALK from the school to the busy intersection on the NH21.

Photo Gallery | Media Coverage

Already, 1.3 million people lose their lives on the world’s roads every year, with road accidents now one of the leading causes of death in the developing world.

In its new report, the Make Roads Safe campaign, a global coalition co-ordinated by the FIA Foundation, warns that deaths will see a “relentless increase” if sustainable transport policies are not put at the heart of debates on development after the millennium goals expire in 2015.

The rising death toll will largely affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, there are about 134,000 recorded road deaths in the country every year. The Make Roads Safe campaign predicts that India could add 90,000 deaths by 2016 if transport policies remain unchanged.

“The message we must take from this report is that road safety is one of the biggest development challenges facing the international community,” said the report’s author Kevin Watkins, from the Brookings Institution.

“The basic problem is that road and transport planners in developing countries and the powerful multilateral development banks continue to think of transport systems as a question of journey times, speed and cost, and neglect to put people first.”

Despite the criticism, multilateral development banks say efforts are being made to ensure that sustainable transport is considered central to any new infrastructure projects funded by bank loans. At the UN’s Rio+20 conference on sustainable development in June, eight of the world’s largest development banks announced they were to jointly invest $175bn in sustainable transportation systems over the coming decade.

“At the World Bank, we are committed to working on road safety as part of our strategy for safe, clean and affordable transport for development,” said Jose Luis Irigoyen, director for transport, water and IT. “Our new projects in countries such as Argentina show the right direction, which is a more holistic approach. We will continue to work … to ensure that road traffic deaths and injuries are never a price to pay for development.”

The report also says unsustainable transport policies pose a major threat to efforts to tackle air pollution and climate change. A huge increase in the numbers of cars across the world will inevitably increase the number of people dying from air pollution. Outdoor air pollution already kills as many people as traffic accidents, with up to 90% of the pollutants for these deaths – such as carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide – coming from petrol-fuelled vehicles.

Even though many existing transport policies are focused on economic progress, traffic congestion loses up to 3% of the GDP of many major cities.

The Make Roads Safe campaign says responsibility for the failure to make transport sustainable lies at the door of national governments and the multilateral development banks.

Many governments have failed to implement sustainable policies or even enforce existing road safety legislation, yet development banks that spend billions of dollars every year financing road building systematically neglect safety, and put speed and economic efficiency over the safety of people.

“Over the past few years we have been hearing a lot of encouraging mood music from the World Bank and other multilateral development banks around road safety but precious little action,” said Watkins.

“A simple proposition such as ensuring that no transport-related proposal goes to the board unless it … [includes] a clear target for reducing road deaths and meeting basic safety standards would make a huge difference yet this still fails to be done. They need to get off the fence and start taking responsibility for tackling a growing problem, which their institutions are clearly reinforcing.”

The report calls for the inclusion of sustainable transport and road safety within the post-2015 sustainable development goals, targeting a 50% reduction in global road deaths by 2030. It wants an extra $200m (£130m) spent each year on aiding the development of national road safety strategies in the poorest countries.

At what it calls a “crucial” time for halting a surge in road deaths, the Make Roads Safe campaign is urging donors, governments and development banks to build on the consensus at Rio+20 that safe and sustainable transport must be an essential component of development strategy. It says that the current debates on a post-2015 development agenda provide the opportunity to reframe transport policy around safety and sustainability.

“This is the first year that we have seen the big development banks really sitting up and making sustainable transport an active part of their agenda,” said Cornie Huizenga, joint convener for the partnership on sustainable, low carbon transport, who lobbied on sustainable transport at the Rio+20 conference last year.

“There is a growing realisation that with rapid global urbanisation we are facing critical choices about what kind of transport infrastructure we need to have, and that the old model of simply building roads isn’t going to work on any human, environmental or economic level.

“For the first time I am genuinely optimistic that sustainable transport can and will be included in the post-2015 development agenda, although obviously we have huge challenges ahead when it comes to getting our voice heard amid the competing demands of the different sectors such as energy and agriculture to have their agenda represented in a set of new sustainable development goals, but I do think the momentum is building.”

The number of fatalities was 1304 with a reduction of 180 people in comparison with 2011. As average there is a reduction of 4 fatalities per day.

Most of the fatal accidents happened between during the day time involving run-offs in conventional roads. The number of accidents involving vulnerable users such as pedestrians has been reduced while number of accidents involving motorcyclists was quite similar to previous year. However, number of fatalities of cyclists increased.

As regards road safety devices and victims, the percentage of fatalities involving drivers not using seat belts was 22%, while the non-use of helmets for motorcyclists represented only 4%. However, despite numerous awareness-raising campaigns to use helmets, the number of fatalities of moped users without helmet was 31%. In Spain, the use of mopeds is very common due to favourable weather conditions.

In general, these numbers are positive considering the 364,8 millions of long-distance journeys completed in 2012. Spain represents a positive example in road safety as result of the coordination between different actors involved in mobility for the last years.

Until recently, the extent of the road safety situation around the world was unclear. In 2009 WHO published the Global status report on road safety as the first assessment of the road safety situation at the global level.

Monitoring tool

In March 2010 the UN General Assembly proclaimed the period 2011-2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The goal of the Decade is to stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic deaths around the world. Global status reports will serve as tools for monitoring the impact of the Decade.

Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013

In 2011 WHO began work on the second such report. The objectives of this new Global status report are:

• to indicate the gaps in road safety nationally and thereby stimulate road safety activities
• to describe the road safety situation in all Member States and assess changes that have occurred since the publication of the first Global status report.
• to serve as a baseline for monitoring activities relating to the Decade of Action for Road Safety at the national and international levels.

Data collection will begin in early 2011 and will be carried out in all WHO Member States that agree to participate, working through WHO Regional and Country offices. The Report will be launched on 14 March 2013.

]]> http://www.arrivesafe.org/global-status-report-on-road-safety-2013/feed/ 0 http://www.arrivesafe.org/how-australia-reduced-road-death-toll/ http://www.arrivesafe.org/how-australia-reduced-road-death-toll/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:21:31 +0000 asafe http://www.arrivesafe.org/?p=4836 more »]]> The number of deaths on South African roads is staggering. With about 14 000 people killed on South African roads each year the cost of this tragic harvest is impossible to calculate. There are war zones in other parts of the world that offer better odds of survival.

I hesitate to point to Australia’s experience in curbing the impact of road trauma. Frankly, I believe our experience is far from the international benchmark and we have a lot of room for further improvement.

However, I know that many South Africans do cite the improvement in road safety that has been achieved in Australia over recent decades as a possible model and there may be some lessons to be learned.

The South African experience does have to be viewed in context. Around the world, approximately 1.2 million people will be killed in road crashes this year. More than 90 percent of these road fatalities will occur in the world’s poorest countries and the African continent shows the highest levels of road deaths per 100 000 population. Indeed, the World Health Organisation projects that without action to change current trends, by 2030 road trauma will increase dramatically and rise from ninth to fifth on the list of leading causes of death worldwide.

DECADE OF ACTION

In response to this global epidemic, the UN has proclaimed a Decade of Action for Road Safety from 2011 till 2020. The Decade of Action must result in tangible outcomes and I remain hopeful that it will provide a rallying point for setting ambitious targets and for co-ordinated action on road safety.

Currently, the fatality rate on the roads in South Africa is 27.5 deaths per 100 000 people, each year. While no level of road deaths is acceptable, a target to halve this current level of fatalities by 2020 is realistic. I know my colleagues at the AA in South Africa have urged the adoption of this target and the measures to implement it. If achieved, it could save the lives of 20 000 South Africans who don’t need to die needlessly between now and 2020.

TAKING ROAD SAFETY SERIOUSLY

In Australia, we currently suffer around 5.8 deaths per 100 000 people each year – down from a peak of 30 in 1970, which is when we can say Australia started to take road safety seriously. The number of road deaths in Australia has reduced from 3798 in 1970 to 1308 over the past year – despite increases in population and vehicle use.

This progress has been the result of a range of initiatives including road improvements, safer vehicles, as well as behavioural and enforcement programmes targeting drunk driving, seatbelt wearing, fatigue and speeding.

There is no silver bullet to addressing the road death toll and it cannot be solved overnight. Road safety initiatives require support from all levels of government, as well as a range of stakeholders including road users, media, police, healthcare providers, schools, local government, vehicle manufacturers, employers and the wider community.

ATTITUDE CHANGE

Importantly, while there are always going to be exceptions, there has been a significant change in broad community behaviour and attitudes. Early campaigns to change behaviour were confrontational and often used “shock” advertising with slogans labelling drunk drivers as “bloody idiots” and graphic video images of road crashes and the resulting trauma to pound home the message.

Equally, the improvement in road safety outcomes in Australia has come at a price, financially and socially. Australians have had to accept tougher regulations, road rules, vehicle standards – and tough enforcement measures have been a key part of the solution.

The “pain” of a fine or loss of licence demerit points is far preferable to the impact of loss of life, or serious injury, and today many more Australians understand that bending the rules on the road can trigger consequences.

SMARTER SOLUTIONS

Looking to the future there is an increasing need to look for smarter and more cost-effective solutions to underpin the planning and investment required to meet our needs for continuing improvements in road infrastructure.

This affects not only the ability to travel between locations but the design and constrction elements of the road can have a large influence on the likelihood and severity of crashes. Factors such as the quality of the road surface, line marking, width of the road shoulder, width of road lanes, the opportunity for safe overtaking of slow-moving traffic and separate pavement areas for pedestrians all help to improve the safety of road users.

COURAGE AND COMMITMENT

Physical barriers between lanes of traffic travelling in opposite directions, removal or protection of obstacles close to the roadside, such as poles and trees, can all dramatically affect the safety of the road system.

While reductions in road trauma require the support and participation of many stakeholders, governments are ultimately responsible for setting the policy agenda, providing leadership and driving the change.

Without this courage and commitment, gains in road safety stall or are eroded.

The most encouraging thing in South Africa is that it seems the public want to do something about the alarming number of road fatalities. The trauma, pain and suffering that stem from road crashes are ultimately preventable. – Cape Argus

]]> http://www.arrivesafe.org/how-australia-reduced-road-death-toll/feed/ 0 http://www.arrivesafe.org/south-africa-over-1-400-people-die-in-accidents-during-festive-season/ http://www.arrivesafe.org/south-africa-over-1-400-people-die-in-accidents-during-festive-season/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:20:04 +0000 asafe http://www.arrivesafe.org/?p=4834 more »]]> Pretoria — Transport Minister Ben Martins has announced that 1 465 people lost their lives on the country’s roads during the festive season.

The main causes of the road fatalities during the period between 1 December 2012 and 8 January 2013 were drunken driving, excessive speeding, dangerous overtaking, not using seatbelts and unroadworthy vehicles.

There were 1 221 fatal accidents recorded during the period.

In the 2011/2012 festive season period, 1 475 people died on the country’s roads.

Speaking in Durban on Thursday, Martins said the 2012 festive season road safety campaign had, among other things, emphasised the need for drivers and passengers to buckle up whenever they start a journey – even if it is for a short journey.

“People who buckle up have a greater chance of surviving when they get involved in road accidents. A number of passengers, especially women and children, died because they were not wearing seatbelts.”

He said approximately 40% of the fatalities involved pedestrians, most of whom walk on the road while drunk.

“I should like to, on behalf of the Ministry and the Department of Transport, express our sincere condolences to all those who lost loved ones over the festive season … Road traffic fatalities are amongst the main causes of death in South Africa. This results in serious social and economic costs for the country. These consequences include the loss of family members, breadwinners and leave behind traumatised families.”

He said at least R306 billion is lost to the economy due to road fatalities each year.

“During the festive season, 17 000 traffic officers were deployed on our roads to police a road network of over 750 000km, used by more than 10 million cars,” he said.

Martins added that going forward, the department will review existing legislative instruments to identify areas that need strengthening and further improvements.

“Amongst others, we will review the current alcohol limit, support the total ban on alcohol advertising, harsher measures for serial and habitual offenders including naming and shaming them, stringent criteria on driver’s licence application and school campaigns on road safety,” he said.

The department will also develop a single national policy on the role and functions of the road safety councils which will mobilise communities to participate in road safety campaigns.

It will also take further steps towards the implementation of the driver’s licence demerit system and further technological innovations regarding the use of speed cameras.

“Achieving the goals that we have set … will require greater co-operation between the department and all citizens. The department is committed to carrying out this responsibility to reduce road fatalities by 50% by the end of the UN Decade of Road Safety in 2020,” said the minister.

]]> http://www.arrivesafe.org/south-africa-over-1-400-people-die-in-accidents-during-festive-season/feed/ 0 http://www.arrivesafe.org/pedestrians-reluctance-to-use-overhead-bridges/ http://www.arrivesafe.org/pedestrians-reluctance-to-use-overhead-bridges/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:18:54 +0000 asafe http://www.arrivesafe.org/?p=4832 more »]]> ISLAMABAD – Most of the residents living across the Islamabad Expressway are not using overhead bridges built at various points, which imperils their life and have led fatal accidents.

Despite warnings by the police and traffic instructions,pedestrians reluctant to climb the bridges and instead walk across the road endandering both their life and of the motorists as well. For example, today I saw an old fellow coming out of Dhok Kala Khan slipping through the road divider grills instead of using the overhead bridge.

Pedestrian are generally reluctant to use the nearby overhead bridges like the old guy saying: “I’m in a hurry,I don’t care.I have to reach office.”

An official of Islamabad Traffic Police said that they are doing their best to educate the road users and different sign boards have been installed to guide the road users.

“I agree that most of the pedestrians prefer short-cut, avoid use of these overhead bridges and face road accidents”, he said. Several fatal and other road accidents have occurred on the Islamabad Expressway due to the negligence of pedestrians who come on the road and at time are hit by the speeding vehicles.

The official said that police would continue efforts to educate road users. He requested the people to use overhead bridges as they were erected for their safety. The Expressway is one of the busiest road of the city as most of the traffic coming from Lahore use it to enter Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Muhammad Afzal, a car owner said it was regrettable that pedestrian were not using the overhead bridges. Muhammad Shafi a public transport driver of route 21, said such practice disturbed the flow of traffic.

Irshad Hussain, a government employee said the he always used overhead bridges to safely cross the road.

]]> http://www.arrivesafe.org/pedestrians-reluctance-to-use-overhead-bridges/feed/ 0 http://www.arrivesafe.org/33-of-road-accident-victims-were-on-foot/ http://www.arrivesafe.org/33-of-road-accident-victims-were-on-foot/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:18:07 +0000 asafe http://www.arrivesafe.org/?p=4830 more »]]> LUDHIANA: Smooth, wide and tree-lined, there is nothing on the surface to betray the danger lurking on city roads. Over the last five years, pedestrians have been falling prey to fatal road accidents. They constitute the majority of casualties in accident cases. Of the 121 casualties reported in road accidents till December 15, 2012, about 33% were pedestrians. The latest victim was a middle-aged man who was run over by a speeding car while crossing the road in Sector 43.

“We have observed that pedestrians form a major chunk of road accident victims. We have run many campaigns to educate pedestrians about road safety norms to check such incidents,” said superintendent of police (traffic) Maneesh Chaudhary.
Chaudhary also attributed the road accidents to the dramatic rise in the population of Chandigarh over the last few years. According to him, the city needs infrastructure like foot overbridges. Sources in the Chandigarh traffic police said they suggested certain engineering changes on city roads to the administration after studying various road accidents but officials declined them saying they would interfere with the heritage status of the city. With authorities wondering what to do, pedestrians continue to bear the brunt of heritage infrastructure. On December 14, 2012, a 29-year-old pedestrian was killed after being hit by a speeding car in Sector 23.

]]> http://www.arrivesafe.org/33-of-road-accident-victims-were-on-foot/feed/ 0 http://www.arrivesafe.org/nhai-plans-legal-action-against-gmr-infrastructure-for-terminating-highway-contract/ http://www.arrivesafe.org/nhai-plans-legal-action-against-gmr-infrastructure-for-terminating-highway-contract/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:13:02 +0000 asafe http://www.arrivesafe.org/?p=4828 more »]]> The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) today said it is planning legal action against GMR Infrastructure after the latter today officially announced that its subsidiary, GMR Kishangarh Udaipur Ahmedabad Expressways, has terminated a contract with the highways authority for building the Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway.

“GMR Infrastructure has said that GMR Kishangarh Udaipur Ahmedabad Expressways Limited, a subsidiary of the company, has terminated the concession agreement entered into with NHAI for six laning of 555 Km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway,” the company informed the BSE on Monday.

One option for NHAI is to blacklist the company for at least one year. Under the second option, GMR will have to forfeit 5 per cent of the total project cost as bank guarantee.

GMR sources told NDTV Profit that they will move the Delhi High Court over forfeiting bank guarantees.

GMR had won the project in September, 2011, through the international competitive bidding route. It is to be implemented through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis. The infrastructure major currently has four annuity projects and six toll projects.

Shares of the company closed at Rs. 20.55 apiece, up 3.27 per cent on the BSE.

]]> http://www.arrivesafe.org/nhai-plans-legal-action-against-gmr-infrastructure-for-terminating-highway-contract/feed/ 0