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Bosch Limited has released India’s first comprehensive study analyzing pedestrian behavior in India during the seventh United Nations Global Road Safety Week.
The report issued by Bosch aims to understand the characteristics of pedestrian accidents in India and to identify countermeasures that can improve road safety in India.
The report reveals that pedestrian accidents are a major safety concern in India, with about one in every ten traffic-related deaths in the country being pedestrians. In 2021, the Ministry of Road and Highway Transport (MoT) recorded 68,053 pedestrian accidents in 2021, which accounted for 16.5 percent of the total accidents that year.
The report, based on an in-depth accident database of more than 6,300 cases of the Road Accident Sampling System for India (RASSI), reveals that pedestrian accidents are a significant safety concern in India.
The following are the main conclusions of the report:
As many as 99 percent of pedestrians are prone to injury. Shockingly, pedestrian deaths in India in 2021 totaled 29,200, which exceeds road deaths across the European Union and Japan combined, with another 60,000 pedestrians injured. Every second pedestrian accident on a country road contributes to the death of a pedestrian. However, in urban and semi-urban areas, the risk of pedestrian death is relatively lower compared to rural roads.
The report also found that human error is the leading cause of pedestrian accidents in India, followed by infrastructure and vehicle-related factors. One unique behavior in crashes in India that the report observed was nearly 12 per cent of pedestrians crossing in the middle of the road and stopping in the middle of the road to allow vehicles to move in another lane. In the West, drivers stop vehicles and let pedestrians cross and in India, pedestrians stop and let vehicles pass.
The report also reveals that daytime accidents pose a bigger threat to Indian pedestrians than nighttime accidents – 52 percent of accidents occur during the day.
There is no “one reason” for pedestrian accidents. Every accident has multi-level contributing factors either from people, infrastructure and vehicles or all of them combined. human error contributed 91 percent, infrastructure 63 percent and vehicles 44 percent.
All three factors shown contributed in one way or another to the crash. In many cases, all three factors will be the main contributors. Therefore a holistic approach to problem solving must be established to reduce pedestrian accidents.
Commenting on the release of the report, Girikumar Kumaresh, Principal Advisor Road Safety, Future Mobility and Expert Accident Research, Bosch India, said “At Bosch, we are committed to making roads safer for everyone. Nowadays, pedestrian safety is an important aspect of road safety, and it is very concerning to see the high number of pedestrian accidents in India. Our report on Pedestrian Behavior in India sheds light on the underlying causes of pedestrian crashes and highlights the need for effective road safety measures and a multidimensional approach to improve traffic safety in India. As individuals, we must also prioritize safety by following traffic rules and being vigilant on the road.”
Story: Alshin Thomas
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