Advocacy for Making Indian Roads Safer

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Advocacy for Making Indian Roads Safer

Our team at ArriveSAFE works as genuine advocates for improving the status of road infrastructure and safety in the country.

In our endeavor to unlock the potential of safer roads, we have often taken the road less traveled by raising our voice for regulatory frameworks that matter.

As per a research in 2017, 4,776 people – or 13 every day – died in 14,071 road accidents due to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Various advisories suggest that easy availability of liquor prompts impulsive buying and drinking. So, keeping in view the same, we filed a petition for removal of liquor vends along the highways in India.
The UN Road Safety Fund Terms of Reference (Nov 2018) describes the global burden of road trauma as follows:
In a milestone achievement, the Supreme Court of India passed a decree to ban sale of liquor along the highways in India. The historic verdict was delivered in December 2016, when the Supreme Court banned the sale of liquor within 500 meters of the National and State Highways. The Supreme Court of India passed the Order under Article 142 of the Constitution making it a National (Federal) Law that came into force w.e.f. 1st April 2017.
The Order mentioned that that these shops should neither be visible, nor should there be any advertisements. This non-availability resulted in change of the attitude and behavior of road users on drink driving.

A survey by Economic Times found that 79% of the 1.13 lac respondents supported the ban. Surprisingly, even the people who said that they consume alcohol, supported the verdict.

As responsible citizens of the country, we all must be cognizant of the fact that there could be a cascading effect of drunken driving, over speeding, and dangerous/ careless driving.

As per a cause-wise analysis by the National Crime Records Bureau, over speeding accounts for 59.6% of the total accidents (2,60,898 out of 4,37,443 cases)which caused 86,241 deaths and injuries to 2,71,581 persons. Dangerous/careless driving or overtaking caused 1,12,519 accidents(25.7% of total accidents) which resulted in 42,557 deaths and injuries to 1,06,555 personsduring 2019. 2.6% (11,303 out of 4,37,443 cases) of such accidents were due to poor weather condition. Whereas, driving under influence of drug/alcohol contributed 1.7% of total accidents which resulted in injuries to 6,675 persons and 2,972 deaths in the country.

The cause – wise analysis of fatal road accidents revealed that 55.7% (86,241 out of 1,54,779 deaths) and 27.5% (42,557 out of 1,54,779 deaths) of fatalities in road accidents were due to over-speeding and dangerous/careless driving or overtaking respectively.

Whereas, poor weather conditions andmechanical defects in motor vehicles caused3.2% (4,953 deaths) and 1.3% (2,045 deaths)of total deaths due to road accidents respectively during 2019. These alarming statistics cry for ensuring road safety at least at the part of the driver by avoiding drunken driving, over speeding and careless driving.