A road traffic accident is any injury due to collisions arising from, terminating with, or involving a vehicle partially or fully on a public road.
Road transport is the most cost-effective mode of transportation in India both for freight and passengers, keeping in view its level of penetration in a populated area. Exposure to adverse traffic environments is high in India because of the unprecedented rate of motorization and growing urbanization fueled by the high rate of economic growth. As a result, incidents of road accidents, traffic injuries and fatalities have remained unacceptably high.
A road accident may cause loss of life/lives or grievous injury or minor injury or non-injury to road users. An accident that resulted in the death of one or more people is a fatal accident.
A total number of 4,12,432 road accidents have been reported by States and Union Territories (UTs) during the calendar year 2022, claiming 1,53,972 lives and causing injuries to 3,84,448 persons. The number of road accidents in 2022 increased by 12.6 percent on average compared to the previous year 2021.
How do road accidents happen?
Road accidents are unfortunately prevalent in India, and the majority of these accidents are caused by human fault. It is imperative to be cautious, drive carefully and follow traffic rules. However, even if you are careful on the streets does not mean that the other drivers are too. There are several incidences when the drivers are not wrong, and it’s the pedestrian or the other vehicle that creates the havoc.
Listed down are the main causes of road accidents in India:
Over Speeding
Most fatal accidents occur due to overspeeding. It is a natural psyche of humans to excel. If given a chance man is sure to achieve infinity in speed. But when we are sharing the road with other users we will always remain behind some or other vehicle. An increase in speed multiplies the risk of an accident and the severity of injury during the accident. Faster vehicles are more prone to accidents than slower ones and the severity of accidents will also be more in case of faster the severity of the accident will also be more in case of faster vehicles. The higher the speed, the greater the risk. At high speed, the vehicle needs a greater distance to stop i.e. braking distance. A slower vehicle comes to halt immediately while a faster one takes a long way to stop and also skids a long distance due to the law of notion. A vehicle moving at high speed will have a greater impact during the crash and hence will cause more injuries. The ability to judge the forthcoming events also gets reduced while driving at a faster speed which causes error in judgment and finally a crash.
Distraction to driver
Though distraction while driving could be minor, it can cause major accidents.
Distractions could be outside or inside the vehicle. The major distraction nowadays is talking on mobile phones while driving. The act of talking on the phone occupies a major portion of the brain and the smaller part handles driving skills. This division of the brain hampers reaction time and the ability of judgments. This becomes one of the reasons for crashes. One should not attend to telephone calls while driving. If the call is urgent one should pull out beside the road and attend to the call. Some of the distractions on road are adjusting mirrors while driving, stereo/radio in vehicles, animals on the road, banners and billboards.
The driver should not be distracted due to these things and reduce speed to remain safe during diversions and other kinds of outside distractions.
Avoiding safety gear like seat belts and helmets
Use of seat belts in four-wheelers is now mandatory and not wearing a seat belt invites a penalty, same in the case of helmets for two-wheeler drivers. Wearing seat belts and helmets have been brought under law after proven studies that these two things reduce the severity of injury during accidents. Wearing seat belts and helmets doubles the chances of survival in a serious accident. Safety gears keep you intact and safe in case of accidents. Two-wheeler deaths have been drastically reduced after the use of helmets has been made mandatory.
Drunken driving
Consumption of alcohol to celebrate any occasion is common. But when mixed with driving it turns celebration into a misfortune. Alcohol reduces concentration. It decreases the reaction time of the human body. Limbs take more to react to the instructions of the brain. It hampers vision due to dizziness. Alcohol dampens fear and incites humans to take risks. All these factors while driving cause accidents and many times it proves fatal. For every increase of 0.05 blood alcohol concentration, the risk of accident doubles. Apart from alcohol many drugs, and medicines also affect the skills and concentration necessary for driving.
How we can prevent road accidents?
It’s rightly said that “It is better to be safe than to be sorry”.
Some precautions that one must take to minimize road accidents are:
Obey traffic rules. Traffic rules have been designed with safety foremost in mind. It takes into account safety for all, including pedestrians. Follow the lane, and keep the required distance between vehicles. It is important to display appropriate indications/signals especially while changing lanes or before a turn. Respect for other drivers on the road is sacrosanct to road safety.
Wear seat belts. Seat belts are life-saving. A statistic has revealed that 63% of those who died in accidents had not strapped on their seat belts. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), lap-shoulder belt systems cut the risk of serious injury and fatality by 50 percent. Seat belts help in protecting the internal organs in a crash as it restrains the forward movement of the body to a great extent. It protects against head and neck injuries by minimizing head contact and keeps the passenger in place.
Reflectors are to be used on the rear of the vehicle. Ensure all lamps are in working condition. A hazard lamp should be switched on when the vehicle is parked on a highway.
Read caution signs: Caution signs are very important as they warn about accident-prone spots so that the driver can reduce the speed of the vehicle. Signboards on the road are vital clues about road design so that the person behind the wheel can exercise caution.
Avoid drugs and alcohol while driving. Drugs and alcohol can slow down reflexes, disrupt accurate judgments, and cause mental alertness to dip. They have been the reason behind many fatal road accidents.
Penalties under Motor Vehicle Act 2019
● Driving without holding an effective driving license: Imprisonment upto 3 months or a fine of Rs. 5000 or both
● Defective vehicles – Imprisonment for up to 1 year and/or fine up to Rs 1,00,000 for defective automobiles.
● Disobedience of orders of authorities and refusal to give information – Fine up to Rs 2,000
● Sale of critical safety component in violation of rules – Imprisonment for up to 1 year and/or fine of Rs 1,00,000 per component.
● Alteration of retrofitting in contravention of rules – Imprisonment for up to six months and/or fine of Rs 5,000 per alteration
● Over-speeding – Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for LMV; Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 for medium passenger or goods vehicles; Second subsequent offence-impounding of driving license
● Penalty for dangerous driving – First offence – imprisonment six months to one year and/or fine Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000; Subsequent offence (within three years from first offence)- imprisonment up to two years and/or Rs 10,000
● Drunken driving – First offence- fine up to Rs 10,000 and/or imprisonment up to six months; second offence- fine of Rs 3,000 and/or imprisonment up to two years.

The author is a student of BA LLB 2nd-Semester at the School of Law, University of Kashmir. Feedback [email protected]

Basit Rasool Thokero