Page 30 - Risk Management Bulletin January-June 2023

RMAI BULLETIN JANUARY - JUNE 2023

creature comforts. Some taxi drivers have the seat belt India suffers from poor enforcement of laws:
buckled but aren’t strapped in themselves, and slide in Researchers such as Kavi Bhalla of the University of
only when there are traffic police around. Pillion riders Chicago have found that the reversal in trend in road
on two-wheelers often don’t wear helmets or wear hard deaths in western countries during the 1960s was not
hats or cricket helmets that offer very little protection because they reached a certain income threshold, but
in a crash. because of significant regulatory and institutional
changes that brought about a paradigm shift in thinking
The problem is if one believes that Indians are irrational about road safety.
about safety, it is difficult to visualise a sustainable
solution, even though policy interventions, “In the US…this period was one in which the problem
technological upgrades, and awareness campaigns can (and hence the potential solutions) shifted from being
help. Also, data from elsewhere show that developed driver-oriented to a more balanced approach, which
countries too went through this phase. Until the 1960s, later came to be known as the ‘Safe System’ approach.
for example, American automakers resisted the idea of It included interventions that focused on vehicles, road
increasing safety, even as European cars were known infrastructure, and post-crash care, in a broad view of
for their safety credentials. the environment in which crashes happen. The
movement was led by…engineers, physicians, lawyers,
Indians don’t want to spend more on safer cars: The and politicians,” Bhalla wrote in a co-authored paper.
Indian Express reported recently that the Centre’s plan
to mandate six airbags in all cars from October 1 is likely This led to the establishment of the National Highway
to be deferred amid internal discussions on its fallout Safety Bureau (later NHTSA). NHTSA and the Federal
in the small car market, and a pushback from the Highway Administration (FHWA) had mandates to
industry. Leading the industry opposition is Maruti regulate safety standards for vehicles and highways, and
Suzuki India, which makes almost every second car that played an important role in pushing the development
is sold in India. According to Maruti, additional airbags and enforcement of interventions such as airbags, seat
will push up prices of entry-level cars and likely result belts, etc.
in further weakening demand. Hyundai Motor has
pulled the plug on the Santro, apparently because The upshot
reconfiguring the car for six airbags would make it
Blaming irrationality for road fatalities is a dead end
unviable.
from a policy perspective. While it is true that there is
a broad correlation between income levels and road
Long-term trends in high-income countries show road
safety, the more salient and actionable insight is that
traffic deaths were rising before the 1960s, but began
low- and middle-income countries such as India do not
to decline shortly afterward, and have continued to
have to wait until their per capita income level improves
decline ever since — even though vehicle ownership
drastically before achieving improvements in road
increased steadily. On the other hand, traffic injuries in
safety.
most low- and middle-income countries are either rising
or are stable at a high level.
The solution lies in creating an institutional framework
with a nationwide mandate and the financial muscle
Research shows that traffic death rates are a function
to bring about systemic changes, rather than periodic
of income growth: when countries are poor they
drives carried out by police against people who drive
experience rising injuries with increasing income; when
without seat belts or crash helmets. (Source: The Indian
countries are rich they experience declines in traffic
Express)
injury with increasing income.

28