CUTS

(Activities organised by CUTS on the occasion of Road Safety Week-7^th to 13^th January 2002)

The fact that almost everyday there is a fatal accident or two somewhere in the country is no secret. Infact this is a common feature in almost all daily newspapers and there are very few days in a year, where newspaper do not carry any news on accidents. Even this could perhaps be attributed to the late flow of information to the press.

In the past few years, the number of registered vehicles, road accidents vis-a-vis the casualties and injuries to people have created a history in the State, with 1999 recording an abnormally large number of accidents. An overview of the accidents in numbers, during is as below:

Year	Registered Vehicles	Accidents	Casualties	Injured
1998	23,82,241	20,798	5,622	26,881
1999	26,47,979	21,132	6,010	26,545
2000	28,88,060	19,932	5,388	25,433

With this background, issue of ‘road safety’ becomes intensely important. In fact there is a great need to inform common people, the ‘road users’, whether pedestrians, drivers- two wheeler or four wheeler, Light Motor Vehicle or Heavy Motor Vehicle, etc. about the measures of road safety.

As a consumer organisation, CUTS made observance of the week through various programmes. Road Safety Week (7^th to 13^th January of every year) has been recognised by Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India.

Volunteers associated with CUTS presented ‘Nukkad Natak’ i.e street/

road-side plays on one of the busiest crossing of the street. The theme was on general traffic rules. The target audience were the passersby.

Similar play was also presented at the Sindhi Camp, the city Bus Stand, with bus drivers and helpers of the State Roadways, as the target audience. The objective was to sensitise them towards the safety and comfort of passengers.

Another issue associated with road safety is the ‘after accident scenario’. From the above scenario of road accidents and thereby death and injuries, a large number of road accident victims can be saved, if only they receive succor immediately. To our pity, many of them do not, many of them get it, but by the time, it may be too late.

With the theme of sensitising private medical practitioners towards road accident victims, CUTS also organised a symposium titled ‘Road Accident Victims – What should be Done’. It involved participation from private medical doctors of the city, representative from Traffic Police, NGO’s and media.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Shashi Panicker, Secretary, Private Medical Practitioners Association, said that doctors deny treatment to road accident victims, because they fear from legal procedures, which are to be followed by medico-legal cases. This may include repeated police investigations, witnessing, and summons at the court.

Ashok Patni, Additional Superintendent of Police, Traffic Police expressed the view that even doctors need to understand the procedures better in order to co-operate with the law and order.

Dr MR Goyal, Medical Jurisprudent, Government of Rajasthan the verdict of the Supreme Court of India, mentioning doctor’s responsibility to treat accident victim with prime importance, which were discussed at length.

The symposium emerged with a need for sensitisation of the society, as a whole towards road accident victims.

The common people, passersby, traffic police, etc. can play a great role in saving the life of a victim, provided they are trained regarding safe handling and transferring of the victim from the place of the accident to the doctor.

The event recommended a better co-ordination among the law makers, maintainers, and doctors to provide immediate care to the road accident victim. The consensus was that fatal accidents could be reduced only through co-operative efforts of doctors, the police and the traffic police.

Hoardings are also displayed at two of the busy road-crossing, (Narayan Singh

Circle and Government Hostel Circle) depicting road safety issues in catchy manner. One of the issue is importance of helmet for the riders of two wheelers, the main and the pillion. The other is overloading of the school auto-rickshaws, which poses threat to the lives of children.

Volunteers also distributed leaflets to passersby, on almost all the road-junctions around the city. The leaflets carry message of general traffic rules for children, narrated in a rhyme with interesting visuals.

Approximately 12-14 lakhs (0.12-0.14mn) registered two-wheeler vehicles are plying on the roads of Jaipur city, the capital of Rajasthan, a state in north west India. According to an estimate of the Regional Transport Office, Jaipur, only 10-15 percent two-wheeler drivers are using helmet. And, pillion riders are rarely seen in taking this basic safety measure while driving on the busy roads of Jaipur.

Not wearing helmet is a major cause of accident deaths among two-wheeler drivers/ pillion riders. Most of these deaths are due to head injuries.

It is interesting to note that, in Jaipur, the use of helmet among two-wheeler drivers/pillion riders go up substantially during the “Road Safety Week” (due to fear of punishment) and during winter season (to protect her/himself from getting cold).

Furthermore, there is a law for mandatory use of helmet by two-wheeler drivers/pillion riders. At the same time, there is a lack of political will to implement the law. Even teenagers (school-going children) use two-wheeler for transportation and do not use helmet. There is no proper public transport system in Jaipur, and thus the people of Jaipur are using two-wheeler for different purposes.

With this as a backdrop, CUTS Safety Watch decided to generate road safety awareness among the people of Jaipur by organising a Road Safety Campaign during December 1999 and January 2000. The Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India, supported the programme.

As a strategy for effective implemention of the activities, CUTS decided to organise the campaign during the “Road Safety Week” and then extended it for a brief period.

The campaign was started with a press briefing, where affected persons (those whose kin had died due to head injuries while driving two-wheeler) narrated traumatic experiences that their families had to undergone, and expressed that it might not have been so if they were wearing helmet.

The campaign was focussed at important and busy road junctions. CUTS personnel put up stickers (based on the campaign theme) on two-wheeler and plead with drivers/pillion riders to wear helmet for their own safety.

There was limited impact of the campaign. Certainly, overnight change in peoples’ behaviour towards her/his safety (and those of their families) was not expected. However, the campaign theme was supported by people at large, and there was wide coverage as well.