Indian Roads Officially the Most Dangerous in the World

It is an unenviable statistic but India's chaotic roads are now officially the most dangerous place to drive in the world. Last year road accidents claimed more than 130,000 lives – overtaking China, which has seen fatalities drop to fewer than 90,000, and prompting a government review into traffic safety that until now has been best summed up by local drivers as "good horns, good brakes, good luck". Ministers are considering a range of new measures, such as making airbags and anti-braking system mandatory in all cars. Trucks may also be fitted with speed breakers in a bid to bring down fatalities. However, many experts say that new laws will have little effect in India, where seat belts are rarely worn and where no one can anticipate with any certainty the behavior of the average road user. Nor can most road users guess what type of vehicle they will face – Delhi alone has 48 different "modes of transport" including cows, elephants and camels as well as cycle-rickshaws and SUVs. Rohit Baluja of Delhi's Institute of Road Traffic Education says "the real issue is not car design but road design. About 85% of all deaths on the roads are pedestrians and cyclists not drivers. We do not design traffic management systems to separate different streams of traffic. In America this began in 1932".He says that an immediate step should be "proper driver training and licensing so that you cannot buy a license through bribes. In Delhi there are 110 million traffic violations a day."The Geneva-based International Road Federation estimates that India already accounts for about 10% of the million-plus fatal accidents in the world – and the absolute number will continue to rise unless checked as more Indians take to the roads. Figures produced by the Indian government already put the social cost of accidents between 2-3% of the GDP every year.Others welcomed the government's decision – pointing out that India is the only major country in the world which does not have any clear policy on preventing fatal accidents or even a target for reducing road accidents."You need laws and you need to implement and enforce them. That is the tricky bit in India. Sure make cars have seat belts but can you make people wear them? That's the bit we have to answer," said Murad Ali Baig, one of the country's best-known motoring writers.