The last two decades have been periods of very high growth rates for motor vehicle populations and road accidents in India. However, practical experience suggests that it may not be desirable to introduce all the safety procedures developed in high income countries (HICs) into India.
There are some major differences in HICs and India: (i) A vast majority of the traffic fatalities in India are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists but automobile occupants constitute a small proportion of the total, (ii) Trucks and buses are involved in a very large proportion of the crashes in India whereas in the HICs a major proportion of crashes involves automobiles, (iii) Compared to HICs, India has a large variety of vehicles on the road and the variation in road speeds of these vehicles is also very high, (iv) In HICs a great deal of road traffic is routed onto limited access expressways. This will not be possible in India for the next few decades or ever.
Motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists constitute over 70% of road crash fatalities and car occupants less than 5%. Trucks and buses are involved in more than 60% and cars in less than 10% of the fatal crashes. None of the cities in HICs have ever had such vehicle use or fatality patterns.
The above clearly indicates that road safety priorities in India will have to be very different from those in - HICs. Obviously, in India much more attention has to be given to the safety of the unprotected road users rather than car occupants.
In order to think of more effective and efficient ways of reducing injuries and fatalities in a cost effective manner, an International Conference on Traffic Safety is being held in New Delhi from 27 to 30 January 1991. The Conference will bring together all professionals working in the area of traffic safety to discuss the various aspects of traffic safety with particular reference to problems of pedestrians, two-wheeler riders and bus-commuters. The Conference will also discuss concrete methods of preventing crashes, improved emergency care of the injured, ways of influencing decision makers and changing road user’s behaviour.
The Department of Posts is happy to issue a Special stamp on Road Safety to mark the International Conference on Traffic Safety.
Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India