Road accidents - Road hypnosis

In a recent road accident at midnight, where 25 passengers of the bus died, one of the reasons mentioned is road hypnosis. 

Information extracted from internet:

What Causes Drivers to Experience Highway Hypnosis? Drivers may become hypnotized by the monotony of the road, such as an empty highway with an endless white line. This phenomenon is especially common when drivers travel for long distances on open highways with little traffic.

By going through the above, all of us must have experienced this at one time or another on many occasions. 

How to prevent drivers from going into such trance-like situations and make them physically aware of their surroundings appears to be having series of road humps which are small height (maybe one inch) barriers for every one kilometer or so. The jerks of the vehicle while passing on these make the drivers come to aware of their surroundings and be alert. 

https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/buldhana-road-tragedy-road-hypnosis-one-of-the-causes-of-accidents-on-samruddhi-expressway-23295426

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bus-passengers-charred-to-death-after-vehicle-catches-fire-on-samruddhi-expressway-in-maharashtra/article67029937.ece

Similar number of covid cases - then and now - change of fear factor

Present day's covid cases are similar to those about a year ago. Even lesser, earlier. But, everyone was scared. Everyone suspected even their neighbors and stopped communicating, stopped exchanging the things that were practice before.

But, with similar cases now, hardly, anybody cares. Even the basic best practices like wearing a mask, social distancing, and sanitizer use has come down. Many are not following these practices. 

With respect to numbers, more deaths took place in road accidents, medical reasons (other than covid), etc. But, we were scared to covid and now it has become common to accept as others.

Same is true in industry. We cared less for accidents of repetitive nature, but glorified those which may not happen again. Even today we blame chemical and nuclear industries, citing Bhopal and Chernobyl mishaps, but take less care in activities like driving, construction, etc. We care more to protect that do not have value more than human life, like memorabilia, vehicles, etc.

It's all in our mind.  Though value of life is same in all cases, our perception makes us accord a different weightage, case to case.

We can truly improve and ensure safety only when we give same importance in all activities, and not accepting any unsafe act or condition.

Distraction to drivers from bill boards on the roads

Today, I was driving to workplace. Enroute, while glancing at advertisements, I narrowly missed hitting a pedestrian. The lady crossing the road stopped and was looking at me, whereas I was watching billboard located at height, thereby missing the road view totally. It is mistake on my part. I also felt like there should not be any distraction to the drivers. Drivers should concentrate on the road traffic and possibly these billboards for others in the vehicles. Else, there can be accidents or near miss incidents like I had today.

Accidents from opening of doors of vehicles

Persons on the road driving two wheelers or walking get injured or die when they were hit by the opening of doors of other vehicle users. This is because the person opening the door will not observe the traffic coming from behind or the persons walking. When the door hits, these persons may fall under other vehicles.

It is suggested to have sliding doors instead of outward opening doors for all vehicles so that the impact from such incidents can be reduced. Best is, to have doors on one side like in buses. But, this may not be practicable. Further, it depends on the road sense of other persons driving vehicles.

Road accident data for Jan-Mar 2018 in Maharashtra

About 100 road accidents are taking place everyday in the state and about 30 persons lost their lives everyday. 

The news report is available here.

http://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/12264-people-died-in-35853-road-accidents-in-maharashtra-in-2017/1317931

Drop in accidents inspite of increase in number of vehicles in Delhi in last seven years

As per reports appeared in Times of India and Economic Times, 32 lakh vehicles are added in Delhi during last seven years. However, the accidents dropped by 26.4% during the period.
The traffic authorities are confident of improving safety by engineering measures, awareness and enforcement of regulations.

Road accidents in India - a report from NDTV site

The report is available from the following link:

http://sites.ndtv.com/roadsafety/dangerous-indias-roads-2110/

Crane crushes the person under rear tyre

In a news report appeared in Times of India, a person sleeping under the crane was crushed when the crane operated moved the crane. The person was crushed under rear tyres. Normally, we see persons / animals resting under vehicles, particularly in hot sun. The crane driver was arrested and a case was registered by police.
When I visited port trust in Chennai several years ago during industrial visit as a part of our safety diploma course, the authorities there told us that persons coming under vehicles is one of the most serious causes for accidents.
In port trust, movement of heavy vehicles and mobile cranes is common.

I see such hazard even on public roads, where reversing of all sorts of vehicles takes place, without regard for safety.

About, thirty years when I went to Vizag, I saw person in a pool of blood. I came to know the reason as reversing of bus from the stand.

I myself was hit on the ankle by a reversing car behind, in Chennai, and suffered for about three weeks. I was lucky not get fracture.

Authorities should seize vehicles without loud reverse horn and cancel the driver licence and vehicle registration immediately.

Paramilitary troops die more in road accidents than in terrorist operations

As per Times of India report, more number of paramilitary troops died in road accidents than in terrorist operations.  They will be under more stress due to long hours of working, away from family for days and weeks, poor facilities at the place of stay, etc. They will be residing in harsh conditions during their work and are prone to attack from mosquitoes, insects, reptiles, etc. They live in such pathetic conditions and it is appropriate atleast to double their salaries like those of engineers, though money is not a true compensation.

Road accidents statistics - Times of India

As per report in Times of India, in 2014, 16 persons are dying in road accidents every year. 1,41,000 died in 2013. Over speeding is the main reason as per the data presented.

It appears more are dying from road accidents than any other factor and we worry more about dangers of setting up of industries.

Road safety - impatience of heavy vehicle drivers

Today, I went out to take admission for my son. My wife was on the wheel. While returning, on a busy road, a state government bus driver kept honking and we could not give way, as the road ahead is not free. After a while, that driver overtook us from left side and drove to right past of our vehicle, threatening to crush our car. While overtaking, he waved his right hand furiously.

I could not understand, how one will get moving space when the road is full of traffic. All vehicle drivers need psychology classes, road accident data, reasons for road accidents and stress levels to all on the road. As per data, most of the road victims are due to hit by state buses.

Recently, a college girl died (see my previous post) when hit from behind by a state run bus. 

Lost track - road accident

The autorikshaw driver lost control as his front wheel got separated and was off the driving path. Opposite coming bike rider could not escape the intruder of his path. Four persons were injured in the accident.

How can we reduce unsafe acts on the roads and avoid accidents?

It is common to see various unsafe acts by vehicle drivers on the roads, like, talking on mobile while driving, driving in the wrong direction, parking the vehicles on the roads at unauthorized places, overloading, jumping the signals, etc.  A large number of vehicles are parked on the roads, causing congestion. Taxis, etc are parked near bus stops to pickup prospective customers, leading to reduced road width for other commuters. This is because no proper space is left during construction of houses, shopping malls, theaters, etc to maximize returns for them while not bothering about safety for public on the roads.
These acts endanger the vehicle drivers as well as other vehicle drivers and pedestrians. And it is not possible for the traffic police to catch all of them at all times.
Common public should be encouraged to take photographs of such unsafe acts along with readable vehicle numbers and local government should create a website for uploading of such photos by public and ensure some responsible authority in the control room to verify, prepare and issue penalty notices.   Surely, local authorities can make a killing by collecting parking fee on the roads instead of their own buildings because of parking everywhere on the roads. Non-payment should result in attaching the vehicle and/or property of the offenders.
Only when such public participation is ensured, road safety for all can be a reality. Else, it will be difficult for anybody to control and avoid accidents on the road.

Strange encounters to a common man on the road

Recently I read that a person while walking on the road side was hit with a falling tree branch and was hospitalized. Few days back, when I went to an industrial unit, I was told that many years ago a boy playing in the ground died due to lightning strike. In the same area, when my self and a friend were going on evening walk, my friend had bird drops on his head twice within a span of ten minutes, and myself being just a feet or two away had narrow escape.  There were reports of fall of snake being carried by an eagle in the sky  on a person below and biting him to death. Personally, about an year ago, I had a near miss from a falling temporary structure, which fell about 10 feet in front of me while I was sitting in a vehicle. The structure was erected in front of a temple and it fell on another car below it but its passengers walked out without any injury.

Vehicles coming from a side lane or opposite and killing the riders on the main road is a regular news item. Uneven surfaces/pot holes/unmarked speed breakers on the road in the darkness unnerve the vehicle riders particularly two wheelers as they approach closer,  and may even lead to their fall. Splashing of water from the roads onto the persons by speeding vehicles on the road is another danger which can distract and can lead to accidents.
In some photos I saw deers and other animals hitting the cars while crossing the road and leading to major road accidents. There will be many such unknown dangers, but some of them can be learned before hand by making a research about the area to be visited and take measures to avoid such encounters.

Road accidents in India

In an article in mint daily on 24.07.2012, it is stated that fatalities due to road accidents in India are on the rise and in the year 2011, 11.8 persons died per lakh of population compared to 11.4, 10.8, 10.5 in 2010, 2009 and 2008 respectively. Within the country, highest fatalities due to road accidents are in the state Goa where 23 persons per lakh die, followed by Tamilnadu (21), Puducherry (19), Haryana (19), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (18.4), Andhra Pradesh (17.9), Delhi (12.3), Maharashtra (11.6), Uttar Pradesh (11), Bihar (4.9).
As per WHO, every hour 40 persons under the age 25 die in the globe and this is 14/hr in India in 2009. The report says drunken driving is a major factor along with speeding, low use of helmets/seat belts, etc. Deaths are on rise progressive states like Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh.
From the road safety statistics above, it appears that road accidents are less in states with good rail network compared to others and this calls for increasing the coverage of the country with good rail network. This will also help in decongestion of roads, reduction in import of fossil fuels thus saving foreign exchange, less pollution and better health.


http://www.livemint.com/2012/07/23233225/Path-to-safety.html?h=B news item
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5973996/Users/Pooja/G-ACCIDENTS.pdf road accident statistics
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,5519345,00.html WHO report

Charge the vehicle owners for parking on the roads

At many places, people park their vehicles in front of their houses on the roads, leading to narrowing of roads and accidents. It is mandatory to leave sufficient space (about 10 ft or more depending upon the plot area) in front of the house upto their compound wall. But, hardly this norm is followed. Overcome by greed, people leave little space and construct the houses upto their boundary, and may be sometimes encroaching their neighbour's area or public road. Naturally, this leads to no parking space and occupants park their vehicles on the roads. All such vehicles should be taken over by local authorities and charge heavy penalties. If there is no response within specified period (say two weeks), the vehicle should be put up for auction. There are thousands of vehicles of all categories that are parked on the roads and I feel this brings sufficient income for the local authorities and also bring discipline among the greedy.

Polluter pays - recovery of cleaning costs from company

In an incident involving overturning of tractor trailer leading to chemical spillage (50 gallons of tetra chloro ethylene) on the road, it is stated that the cost of cleaning, overtime charges of police personnel, cleaning personnel, emergency center setup expenses will be charged to the trucking firm. During clean up operations, the road traffic was stopped. Quantification of the loss incurred by those on the roads shutdown will be much higher than the bill that will be served to the trucking firm. However, billing is a good idea as many have scant respect for the national wealth spoiled by their acts.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Did-you-cause-the-wreck-that-shut-down-I-10-for-3388775.php

Road safety - Heavy penalties for traffic offences

As per a report in the year 2010, 1.3 lakh persons died due to road accidents. A study reveals road accidents cost the nation about Rs 1,00,000 crore.  There will be many road accidents which go unreported and authorities come to know of the accidents only when persons are seriously injured and require medical help.
Government proposes to penalize heavily those caught on the road with drunken driving/mobile use during driving/over speeding/jumping the signal/driving without helmet or seatbelt/using vehicle without registration. The government proposes penalties for first offence ranging from Rs 500 to 10,000 and for subsequent offences upto Rs 20,000. Dangerous driving and mobile use invite jail term also upto 2 years.
On this aspect, in earlier post way back in the year 2008-9, I felt the same.

Apart from penalising those with dangerous/unsafe driving, pedestrians crossing the roads without waiting for easing of road traffic, roadside business persons encroaching the roads, persons parking vehicles on the road also should be penalised heavily as they are also responsible for a number of road accidents and deaths.
And those caught with traffic offences should be forced to work on social service activities like cleaning the roads, schools, performing traffic control duties, etc.

Many times, to save the persons on the roads, vehicle drivers move away  and this during speed causes skidding/loosing control/hitting the road divider or street pole, etc leading to fall of the driver, toppling of the vehicle, hitting some other person/vehicle, etc and injury/death.

Government proposes to use 50% of the fines collected to use for road safety fund. Apart from this, I wish government gives 25% of the fines collected as incentive to the traffic police. In my earlier posts on the same topic, I opined to give some basic salary to the traffic police and allow them to take penalty amount as their income. This will also reduce burden on the government to maintain huge staff and encourage to recruit more and more traffic police all over the country by respective authorities. I also suggested in earlier posts to takeover properties of offending drivers/vehicle owners to teach lessons for life. In a situations where words are not enough, only actions / measures like above will control road accidents and save lakhs of lives.

What is safe speed on the road?

Last few days, I felt myself lucky many times on the road while going to my workplace. All the times, I feel I saved my self from some injury due to my low driving speed. There are pedestrians crossing the road all of a sudden, persons asking for lift by coming to half of the road, 2-/3-/4-wheelers suddenly coming to the middle of the road from left side, persons moving on the road while conversing on the mobile, pushcarts taking their own time to move, and so on.
Many times I felt like shouting, but what is the use other than increasing my stress and spoiling my day.
I found during these observations that the safe speed (not average speed) on the road that I can control my self from hitting others on the road is 30 kmph, not more than that. With this speed, even if someone crosses my line suddenly or the vehicle in front stops suddenly, still I can apply brakes and avoid any accident even if the other fellow on the road wants to take a hit from me.

Road rage - a car accident

Today morning while going to my work place, while going over a rail over bridge, I saw a car that hit a truck on its rear side, possibly in the darkness. No idea about injuries. Yesterday, same time, I saw the truck at the same place in halt condition, due to some breakdown. The surrounding area was isolated by keeping some tree branches.
Normally, when some vehicle is under breakdown, the driver uses blinkers that are ON indicating about vehicle presence. Some keep stones upto some distance. Some use night reflectors to indicate presence of vehicle.
Nobody expects, vehicle parking on the rail over bridges, flyovers, etc and drive vehicle at full speed, particularly at night times due to little traffic. I suspect accident might have occurred for this reason.
Many times, I too had heart jump while driving on flyovers, as suddenly I find some one talking on mobile after taking sides to the extreme end; some repairing their vehicle; some stopping the vehicle and looking at the nature; and so on.
Some trucks while carrying lengthy rods, pipes, etc do not tie the red flags, do not switch on the blinkers, and those driving behind, if they do not recognize, surely they get involved in accidents.
Road safety is very important for every one and loosing concentration even for a second may lead to deaths.
Sometime back, a person driving his 2-wheeler on a main road died, as all of sudden a mini truck entered from side road to main road rashly, leaving little chance for the person to escape.
I feel there should be speed breakers on all branch roads just before joining the main road so that vehicle speed will come down drastically.
Some places, I found branch roads immediately at the end of the flyovers. This condition too can lead to accidents as those driving fast on flyovers will find vehicles entering from branch roads. This is my personal experience too. Once, I was driving my vehicle on a rail over over bridge. I saw a 2-wheeler raider in front of me skidded and fell down while applying brakes as he saw a vehicle entering from branch road. Seeing this another vehicle driver nearby also applied brakes and he too fell down. From then on, whenever I drive down on flyovers, I am going very slowly, though I drive at speed while driving up on the flyover.