Community participation for road safety in India

Abstract

Fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents (RTAs) are on the rise at an alarming rate worldwide. The majority of RTA deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries where the volume of traffic is much lower than in developed nations. In India, two people die every six minutes and one person sustains serious injuries every minute due to RTAs. Road transportation in India is a multi-disciplinary issue and handled by multiple agencies, hence responsibility rests with no single body. Law-enforcing agencies and engineering solutions will have limited success without cooperation from the community. This paper identifies the need to bring about community participation and presents a methodology to achieve this end.