3.1 ROAD ACCIDENTS IN TAMIL NADU.

Based on Police Department report, district wise distribution of road

accidents in Tamil Nadu and casualties for the year 2000 is presented in
Table 3.1. As per the table Chennai city has recorded highest number of
total accidents (5166) and also the highest number of fatal accidents (574).
More than 500 fatal accidents were registered in Chennai city, (case study
area 1) and Villupuram District (case study area 2).

Table 3.2 shows the vehicle population in Tamil Nadu from the year
1994 to 2000. The total vehicle population has increased from 21.5 lakhs in
the year 1994 to 46.07 lakhs in the year 2000. As on 2000, 17,033 public
stage carriages (operated by State Transport Undertakings) and 5705
private stage carriages are in Tamil Nadu.

3.2 ROAD ACCIDENTS AT NATIONAL LEVEL

The State wise distribution of all India Road Accidents, persons killed
and persons injured for the period 1991 to 1999 are presented in Tables 3.3,
3.4 and 3.5. Tamil Nadu (where the case study of 5 STUs have been done)
occupies the second top spot after Maharastra in total number of road
accidents in all the years from 1991 to 1999.

In number of persons killed, Tamil Nadu occupies the third spot in

the year 1999.
 28

3.3 DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL FOR PREDICTION OF FUTURE

ACCIDENTS

Table 3.6 shows the Number of total accidents, No. of fatal Accidents,
Deaths and Injuries for Tamil Nadu State as a whole for the period from
1983 to 2000. The Total number of accidents shows a 125% increase in the
year 2000 (48923) when compared with the year1983 (21776). Based on
the time series, details are presented in this table. Linear trend
mathematical models are developed for both total and fatal accidents for
prediction. The accidents in future are projected for 10 years (Fig.3.1 to Fig
3.4). It shows that the number of total road accidents in Tamil Nadu will be
65031 and the number of fatal accidents will be 11966 in the year 2010.
This clearly indicates the urgent need to take all possible steps to reduce the
accidents.

During the year 1999 (the case study year), the State Transport
Undertaking accidents constituted nearly one fifth of the total road
accidents and around 17 percent of fatal accidents in Tamil Nadu vide Fig.
3.5 and Fig.3.6 respectively.

3.4 NEED FOR IMPARTING TRAINING TO DRIVERS

After getting the Light Motor Vehicle driving license, the learner
becomea cleaner in a lorry or they work as a second driver or additional
driver in Light commercial vehicle or Heavy vehicle. While doing this job, the
learner learnfrom the driver of that vehicle. In most of the cases this leads
them to acquire very bad driving habits, rash driving, sudden braking, etc.,
besides other habits like smoking, drinking alcohol, etc.,
 As such it is essential to conduct separate training programs by
reputed institutions like Institute of Road Transport and Ashok Leyland
Driving School at Namakkal which have -good infrastructure facilities,
training buses, driving instructors, driving range, class room for technical and
general education, library, etc., It also helps to achieve the following specific
objectives to assist all students in :

- Learning the appropriate knowledge for increasing their

efficiency in the total traffic environment physical, social,
psychological, moral and legal
- Learning fundamental driving skills and establishing basic and
correct skill habits
- Achieving a desirable pattern for behaviour in our traffic society
- Developing the ability to recognize, analyse and respond to
traffic situations that demonstrate proficiency in the driving
task.
- Developing understanding of both driver and other users
limitations, obligations and responsibilities from legal and social
view points.

Detailed syllabus of the 3 months training program is given in the

Annexure Ill.

The complete driver education course including class room and the
laboratory instruction should be based upon the concepts of 1) The driving
test 2) Human functions 3) Factors influencing driver performance and 4)
OperatorINon-operator functions and highway transportation system
interaction. Curriculum specifications should be based upon the following
units of instruction.

- Nature of the driving task.

- Basic knowledge and skills for vehicle operation.
- Vehicle performance and control capabilities.
- Habits and skills for vehicle operations and maneuvers.
- Driving strategies and tactics.
- Judgment of system events.
- Decision making for a plan of action.
- Highway user responsibilities.
- Effect of alcohol and other drugs.
- Obedience to and enforcement of traffic laws.
- Post-crash procedures and responsibilities.
- Selection, inspection and maintenance of vehicles.

By improving the performance of the State Transport Undertaking

drivers in the case study areas, it is expected that nearly 20% of the road
accidents could be brought under control, which will lead to an overall
reduction in road accidents. Hence five STUs have been randomly selected
for detailed analysis of accidents.
 TABLE 3.1 DETAILS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS FOR THE YEAR 2000

\A - Number of accidents NPK - Number of persons killed

\PI - Number of persons injured
TABLE 3.2 VEHICLE POPULATION IN TAMILNADU
 TABLE 3.6 ROAD ACCIDENTS IN TAMILNADU 1983 TO 2001

Source: D.G.P's Office, Chennai - 4

FIG 3.3 Fatal Road Accidents in Tamil Nadu (1983-2000)
(Linear Trend line )