Page 50 - The Insurance Times December 2024

Road Accidents

Car Company can do their bit to improve

Road Safety

I ndian traffic conditions are not at par with developed Nitin Gadkari, the minister of road transport and highways,
countries such as Japan, and in addition to equipping ve-
conceded at the 64th Annual Convention of Auto Compo-
hicles with safety features, a lot more needs to be done here nent Manufacturers Association that his ministry had not
to educate vehicle users to reduce road accidents and fatali- been able to curtail the number of road accidents and re-
ties, said Maruti Suzuki managing director Hisashi Takeuchi. lated fatalities despite its best efforts.
India has the highest number of road fatalities in the world India reported 500,000 road accidents and 1.68 lakh fatali-
with one death reported every three minutes in 2023. There ties in 2022, translating into nearly 53 accidents and 19
is an increase in awareness about the safety features of deaths every hour, Gadkari’s ministry said in a report. It has
vehicles among consumers and carmakers can play an im- yet to release the official data for 2023.
portant role in educating vehicle users about road safety, Of these fatalities in 2022, two-thirds of the people were in
Takeuchi said. the age group of 18 to 36. Almost 45% of the accidents in-
“My personal view of the Indian traffic situation is, (it is) not volved two-wheelers and 20% pedestrians, according to the
at par to the one in Japan. Sometimes I see people driving minister. In 2022, around 30,000 road fatalities were attrib-
in the other direction, coming in the direction of people uted to non-usage of helmets and another 30,000 were near
driving. People don't follow lanes. So, there is a role actu- institutional areas. Gadkari had urged auto industry lead-
ally for us to improve the situation,” he said. ers to create awareness regarding road safety among the
Takeuchi spoke on the sidelines of the launch of the all new masses — particularly among the school children — by
utilising their CSR funds. The minister had also conceded that
DZire (priced Rs 6.79-10.14 lakh before road tax, insurance
and registration cost). faulty road engineering had been another major cause of
the high number of road accidents, adding, the Centre’s
As many as 173,000 lives were lost in road crashes in 2023, “target is to reduce the accidents by 50%”.
The Times of India had reported, citing data shared by states
with the central government. This was the highest number Separately, Maruti Suzuki said despite the increase in con-
of people killed in a year since the government started col- sumer preference for SUVs, it has been able to arrest the
lating road accident data at the national level to assess the decline in the sales in the entry-level hatchback segment.
Retail sales of small cars Alto and S-Presso rose 10% in Oc-
extent of the problem and reasons behind crashes.
tober. Banerjee said, “Quarter one to quarter two, we could
“Adding (safety) feature to the product is not enough. I think
arrest the decline actually in the entry hatch segment. In
we have to cover lots of other aspects also. For example, (we
the month of October, we saw good traction.”
need to better the) awareness of the customer, (give) edu-
Maruti Suzuki said while it will continue to introduce new
cation to the customer,” said Partho Banerjee, senior execu-
tive officer (marketing and sales) at the country’s largest vehicles in the fastgrowing SUV segment in line with cus-
carmaker. “Even if we have a good airbag system and three- tomer requirements, it will work on upgrading hatchbacks
and sedans too to offer wider choices to buyers.
point seatbelt, if they (passengers) don't wear a seatbelt, the
airbag may work adversely to the occupant. So that's very Takeuchi said: “Right now, the demand is skewed to SUVs,
important for our customers to understand that they follow and we need to introduce more SUVs into the market.” The
the exact instructions from the OEM (original equipment capacity is not unlimited, but the existing models must be
manufacturer).” The company has been setting up driving renewed every three to six years, he said, adding: “That we
schools to educate vehicle users of road safety guidelines. have to maintain.”

The Insurance Times December 2024 45