Towards Sustainable Reduction in Road Traffic Fatalities and Injuries in Rajasthan

Background

The proposed initiative aims to synchronize the efforts of citizens’ groups, academic centres and
NGOs with government enforcement / education activities to enhance their potential impact to
effect a reduction in crashes, injuries and deaths.

The main components of the sustainable initiative are enhanced enforcement, educational activities
including targeted campaigns/media and non-media activities, engineering interventions and
evaluation. Enhanced enforcement by the police need to focus on a) proper motorcycle helmet
wearing and strapping, b) front and rear seat belt use, c) avoidance of drinking and driving, d) speed
limits e) distracted driving (use of mobile phones, etc) f) visibility of vulnerable road users –
pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists – bright/luminous clothes, etc and g) fatigue of commercial
vehicle drivers. Educational activities will target all the risk factors (a to g) mentioned above). The
main ingredients of this sustainable initiative are enhanced overt and covert enforcement,
increasing perception of being “caught” among road users and education of the public regarding
safety/ increased enforcement for their own safety. The initiative will be evaluated independently
by indicators such as number of deaths, helmet wearing rates, seat belt use rates, percentage of
drivers tested positive for drinking and driving, number of summons by police, proportion of
pedestrians wearing visible clothing at night, number of vehicles exceeding speed limits, etc.

The initiative, to be sustainable and successful should combine the enhanced enforcement with
education, involvement of citizens’ groups/NGOs working closely with government agencies and
independent project evaluation.

A) Proposal

This community based initiative will have the endorsement of an intersectoral Steering Committee
led by the Head of State himself to demonstrate the highest level of commitment in the State. The
main components of the project are engineering (including infrastructure) interventions, education
and enforcement.

a) Engineering interventions

Engineering and infrastructure interventions are important aspects. They do not directly involve the
main population and need “technical” inputs. These engineering interventions are being carried out
on an on-going basis and will be intensified. Indicators of improvements in infrastructure and
engineering interventions are also more complex to articulate and evaluate. Impacts of engineering
interventions can only be seen in the long term.

These interventions include the following – identification of “black spots” and suitable treatment
measures, appropriately maintained traffic signals and road side furniture, traffic calming measures,
etc.
 b) Widespread publicity and education

Widespread publicity and education will focus on the following areas –

Motorcycle safety – proper use of helmets, proper fastening (not loose), use of quality helmets,
being visible on the roads at night by wearing bright clothes, lowering speeds, not drinking and
driving, avoiding use of mobile while driving

Pedestrian safety – use of designated pedestrian crossing facilities, being visible on the roads at
night by wearing bright clothes, not being distracted by avoidance of use of mobile phones

Bicycle safety - being visible on the roads at night by wearing bright clothes, lowering speeds,
avoiding use of mobile while riding, use of helmets

Vehicle safety – lowering speeds, giving way to pedestrians crossing the roads, not drinking and
driving, wearing seat belts, avoiding fatigue while driving, avoiding use of mobile while driving

Commercial vehicle drivers - lowering speeds, giving way to pedestrians crossing the roads, not
drinking and driving, wearing seat belts, avoiding fatigue while driving, avoiding use of mobile while
driving.

The main objective of the initiative is to increase road safety awareness among the residents of the
state. All forms of media will be involved to target the messages to different segments of society.
Non-media activities such as talks, posters, bill boards, competitions, debates etc. could be carried
out to spread the “specific” messages mentioned above.

c) Enhanced enforcement

An important message for the public is that the enforcement by the police and other agencies will
be enhanced and sustained with respect to the relevant areas mentioned above. The success of the
project lies in increasing “perception of being caught” throughout the state in combination with
widespread education / publicity on the importance of road safety awareness over a sustained
period of time. The commitment of the police and highest state leadership is the key to success and
sustainability in the long term.

The level of enforcement should be enhanced in the following ways:

i) Intensified enforcement

This is an actual increase in the level of enforcement. There are two main issues related to enhanced
enforcement – the public/ residents (especially if enforcement is carried out in a geographically
defined area) will feel victimised and discriminated against. They may even resort to publicize this
bitter experience to the media. It is crucial to anticipate this retort by the public. There are two ways
to be prepared for this. The “bitter medicine of enforcement” can be “sweetened” through
widespread publicity and education. Also, the public can be forewarned of the intensified
enforcement and the need for them to follow the traffic regulations in the focus areas mentioned
above. If repeated notice of the enhanced enforcement is given, the authorities need not worry
about public retort. Also, it is obvious that all these are being carried out in the interest of public
safety and not for the sake of authorities.

ii) Overt and covert enforcement

The enforcement has to be intensified in both overt and covert manners. Overt enforcement refers
to when the police carry out enforcement in their uniform and with official vehicles. Covert
enforcement refers to enforcement by plain clothed police in unmarked vehicles. By this method,
the public will perceive that enforcement is universal both in time and geographical area.

iii) Repeated, random enforcement throughout the day (time) / geographical area (place)

The enforcement has to be carried throughout the day and on a random basis throughout the state
and not in a defined area. This will again contribute to increasing the “perception of being caught”.

Most of the above activities are targeted towards the residents of the state. One main issue is the
need to get the above messages to non-resident road users (both private and commercial vehicle
drivers)i.e. from other states. Prominent sign boards could be placed in the main arterial and feeder
roads to the state to inform non-resident road users that enforcement is being intensified in the
state.

iv) Combined enforcement, education and evaluation through “road side surveys”.

The enforcement and education/publicity activities mentioned above in b) and c) can be carried out
separately. However, road side surveys are an important component of the project and provide an
opportunity to combine enforcement and education. The surveys involve stopping a specific
category of road users (e.g. motorcyclists, vehicle drivers, commercial drivers) at designated areas by
police, volunteers and survey personnel. This opportunity could be used by the police personnel for
enforcement purposes. In addition, survey assistants and volunteers can carry out the survey on
helmet / seat belt use, etc. and for handing out brochures, etc. Hence, the three purposes of
enforcement, survey and education could be carried out in a single activity.

C) Evaluation

Evaluation is an important component of this initiative and measures project structure components,
inputs (financial and others), outputs and actual impact of interventions.

Project structure

The number of volunteers involved is an indicator for project structure.

Project output
The focus of interventions will be proper helmet wearing, front and rear seat belt use, speeding,
drinking and driving, being visible at night, driver fatigue, distracted driving (use of mobile, etc.) and
other traffic violations. The key indicator for this area will be the number of police summons issued
for road traffic violations including helmet use. Since enforcement is expected to be enhanced and
coordinated, this is an appropriate indicator.

a) Outcome of Initiative

The proposed interventions are enhanced / coordinated enforcement combined with widespread
publicity / education. Assuming the above are implemented appropriately, one can expect that
helmet wearing rates and seat belt wearing rates will increase during the intervention phase. The
following traffic violations will decrease during the intervention period - speeding, use of mobile
phone use while driving, drinking and driving, distracted driving.

Project impact

The actual success of the project lies in demonstrating a reduction in the number of severe injuries
(admissions to hospitals) and deaths after appropriate interventions mentioned above. These
indicators can be measured using data from the police and public/private hospitals. The number of
deaths will be obtained from the police road crash information system. The number of admissions
due to road traffic crashes will be obtained from the public and private hospitals in the state. The
data collection process (for number of deaths and serious injuries) has to be initiated at least one
month before the initiation of interventions to demonstrate a significant reduction in deaths and
serious injuries.