Abstract:

Morbidity and mortality due to road traffic injuries (RTI) is one of the few public health problems where society and decision makers still accept death and disability on such a large scale as inevitable. Discussion only revolves around the number of deaths and injuries we are willing to accept. The partial departure from this mode of thinking is ‘Vision Zero’ for road safety that was adopted by the Swedish parliament in 1997. The long-term objective is that no one shall be killed or seriously injured in traffic and that the design, function and use of the transport system shall be adapted to the standards this requires. In this article we try to understand the concept of RTI as a public health problem and why that understanding has led to the introduction of Vison Zero and then sporadic attempts to establish road safety as a fundamental human right. We provide some details surrounding these events, the reasons for their limited success, and suggest ways in how we might move forward in establishing a place for rights and obligations to ensure road safety in reality.

New study shows helmet rule compliance at a dismal 16%, only 1.94% pillion riders wear a helmet.
Against the backdrop of the Motor Vehicles (Amendments) Bill 2017 that got passed in the Lok Sabha which emphasizes stricter penalties for violations, we undertook a sample survey to determine the helmet compliance rate in the city which shows that only 16% wore helmets, and an even worse 1.94% of pillion riders complied to the helmet rule.