Question

Mention the importance of road safety.

Answer 1

Hint: India ranks first in the total number of road accident deaths across the 199 countries followed by China and the United States, reported in 2018.

Complete Answer: Road accidents are becoming very common due to ignorance of proper road safety measures and the collision of vehicles. In 2019, the Parliament of India enacted the Motor Vehicles Amendment law. Road transport is the most dominant mode of transport in India apart from the Railway transport system. The age profile of road accidents for the past three consecutive years and also at present consists of the productive age group of 18-45 years that accounts for 69.6 percent of road accidents.

Reasons for the importance of road safety are as follows:
- Practicing road safety helps an individual to acquire certain road skills to protect themselves from road-related harms.
-Road safety helps us in maintaining orderliness in the road, preventing chaos and confusions on the road. It provides us with certain rules and regulations that describe how one should use roads diligently and in a proper way.
- It also helps in the prevention of accidents and fatality. Proper practice and implementation of road safety rules will reduce accidents, as such accidents are a heavy loss to everyone.

In 2014, the Supreme Court of India had set up a three-member ‘KS Radhakrishnan panel on road safety. This panel made certain recommendations such as the ban on the sale of alcohol on both state and national highways, implementation of laws by the State on wearing a helmet, further emphasized in creating awareness among people on road safety rules.

Note: India has signed the Brasilia declaration at the Second Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety held in Brazil and committed to a reduction in fatalities.