Transporting from Dusty Way to Death!

It is an irony that people used the phrase “miles to go” to indicate that they still had many things to do, to complete, to experience, to earn, to enjoy which perhaps did include a journey as well. If they needed to go miles to fulfill their visions; it is imperative that the roads and transportation modes are safe enough to carry them across miles. And enable them to reach their destinations; in one piece and without any disabling hassles en-route.

But are we really safe travelling, be it on road, air or sea? Can we rest assured one hundred percent that things will go right? The accident rates do not assure us of any such total safety during travel; especially in the developing countries where the accident rates are expected to rise by about 70% in the next 10 years. The situation is not all that comforting even in the developed countries either; though the accident rates are projected to go down by 30% in the same period of time.

A report on worldwide road safety issued by WHO found several countries lack adequate laws to confront the growing problem of accidents, traffic injuries and deaths. According to the study, severe injuries caused by traffic accidents are the world's ninth leading cause of death.

The study also discovered that well over 1 million people die annually in car accidents, and that more than 20 million are injured. Nearly half of the fatalities involved pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcycles. Road accident is one of the leading causes of death in the world, and the leading cause of death for young people. Very few people are aware of this because it happens one by one, here and there in isolated instances. As it does not happen in mass or collectively, it gets less attention. This information is based on data from a 2008 WHO survey of 178 countries, representing 98 percent of the world’s population.

There is a startling revelation from a study conducted in Britain. Motorcyclists have the highest fatality rate per billion kilometer of any road user group. Despite only representing 1% of vehicle traffic, they account for 19% of all road user deaths in Great Britain (source: Reported Road Casualties GB 2008).

Typically around three-quarters (75%) of motorcycle deaths and serious injuries occur in collisions involving another vehicle (usually a car). In 2008, just over half (51%) occurred in collisions at junctions, with the remainder of deaths and serious injuries occurring either in crashes with other vehicles away from junctions (24%) or in single vehicle incidents (25%) . These ratios are perhaps typical of the mishaps that occur involving motorcycles in other part of the World too.

Apart from causing tremendous personal suffering, traffic deaths and injuries can impoverish families and burden already strained health systems. Amazingly it is often an anecdote that in some hospitals and surgical wards, almost half of the surgery beds are occupied by victims of road traffic crashes.

Traffic accidents and consequent deaths have increased manifold with a nation’s growing economy, but developing countries can and must incorporate safety strategies into transportation and infrastructure plans to avoid the historical pattern. If this could be done successfully and a turnaround is made in the next 10 years, it could also be one of the greatest public health achievements in the 21st century.

We have a long way to go in terms of meeting the challenges and threats posed by the rapidly increasing traffic worldwide as millions of additional vehicles join the road each year. The impediments that we need to overcome in effectively regulating and controlling the traffic are often daunting.

The accidents involving other modes of transport are also of equal significance as they also cause havoc in various forms including loss of life and usually in large numbers at any given instance be it the disappearance of an Air France flight over the Pacific or the sinking of a ferry in Philippines or two train ramming each other in Belgium.