Road Safety
According to a study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, road traffic accidents cost India nearly 3% of its gross domestic product a year, or, in absolute terms, about USD 58000 million. Nearly Rs.22,200 crore annually in Tamil Nadu in terms of cost to the victims and families like medical cost, loss of work, productivity, income besides physiological and psychological suffering, cost in terms of damage to the property.
In the SDG of United Nations it has been committed to halve the number of deaths from road crashes by 2020. There is an urgent need to scale up evidence-based interventions and investment. The onus of creating safer cities and transport systems is felt by all stake holders.
Proper intervention and a comprehensive approach in the field of Roads, Education, Health care, Traffic regulation and Law Enforcement would reduce accidents and the Highways Department is striving towards delivering safe roads to the public.
The Highways Department aims at an efficient and safe traffic system. Increased.vehicular population, advent in automobile technology is demanding safer roads.
With increasing road crashes in the country, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India intervened in the issue and constituted a three member Committee on Road Safety (CoRS), to monitor and review the action taken to reduce accidents. Several instructions and guidelines have been issued.
On similar lines, under the World Bank funded TNRSP-II project, the issue of road safety is being addressed through Institutional Capacity Enhancement & Road Safety (ICE&RS) component. Institutional arrangements like Road Safety Executive Leadership Group (RSELG) Road Safety Management Cell (RSMC) are the salient aspects of the project.
Road safety is an integral part of road design right from planning stage and safety audit of highways has been taken-up to identify vulnerable spots. High priority has been accorded to rectification of black spots in the highways. The Highways Department had undertaken various measures to improve the road geometry during the period of 2014-15 to 2020-21, a total amount of Rs.1829.44crore has been allocated for these works. Apart from the CRIDP funds, works to a tune of Rs.850crore have also been undertaken through Road Safety funds.
Road Safety Works
Amount Rs. in crore
Sl. No | Year | Details of Fund allocationAmount Rs. in Crores) | ||
CRIDP | Road Safety Fund | Total | ||
1 | 2014-15 | 250.00 | 200.00 | 450.00 |
2 | 2015-16 | 206.87 | 100.00 | 306.87 |
3 | 2016-17 | 203.07 | 100.00 | 303.07 |
4 | 2017-18 | 216.12 | 100.00 | 316.12 |
5 | 2018-19 | 292.10 | 100.00 | 392.10 |
6 | 2019-20 | 319.00 | 100.00 | 419.00 |
7 | 2020-21 | 342.28 | 100.00 | 492.28 |
Total | 1829.44 | 850.00 | 2679.44 |
During the year 2014-15 to 2021, 6623 Road safety works were taken-up so far and out of which 4372 works completed and balance in progress.
The concerted efforts of all the stake-holders and the Department in providing quality road network, have yielded better results in reduced fatalities of 14% over the previous years, in the State. A result to be heralded and carried forward with the equal co-operation and co-ordination of all the lead partners, in the years to come.
BLACK SPOT
Black spots are identified every year based on the occurrence of accidents and to carryout improvements to reduce the fatal accidents. Accordingly the list of fatal accidents occurred from 2013 to 2019 are identified and improved as detailed below:
The identification, analysis and treatment of road accident black spots are widely regarded as one of the most effective approaches to mitigate road accidents. It is well established that considerable safety benefits may accrue from the application of appropriate road engineering or traffic management measures at hazardous road locations. Results from such applications at “black spots” demonstrate high returns from relatively low cost measures. Using MoRT&H guidelines Accident black-spots have been identified in the State. As an immediate step to improve those black spots temporary measures, viz. erection of sign / cautionary boards, provision of rumble strips, blinkers etc. have been done. Permanent measures, viz. construction of Flyovers, Underpasses, Service Road, Foot Over Bridges, junction improvements, including lighting facilities, etc., are being taken-up on case to case basis.
Black spots are being identified every year and improvements are being carried out to reduce the fatal accidents. The number of black spots identified and improved from 2013 to 2017 is detailed below:
Sl. No | Year | Total | Completed | In progress | To be taken |
1 | 2013-15 | 169 | 169 | - | - |
2 | 2014-15 | 85 | 85 | - | - |
3 | 2016 | 64 | 64 | - | - |
4 | 2017 | 44 | 44 | - | - |
5 | 2018-2019 | 413 | 116 | 237 | 60* |
775 | 478 | 237 | 60* |
*Proposed Under CRIDP 2021-22 & Road Safety Fund Scheme 2021-22. 72 Permanent Rectification of Blackspots have been Proposed.
Some of the black spots improvements are shown below:
INTERVENTIONS
Aligning with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on road safety outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020
SUPREME COURT COMMITTEE ON ROAD SAFTEY 6 PILLARED APPROACH:
-
Institutional Arrangement
- State Level; District Level; Implementation Level
- Data Reporting; Investigation and Research; Training Schools
-
Safer Roads and Mobility
- Road Engineering Design; Removal of Road side frictions;
- Speed Calming; Road Furniture; Audit; Training
-
Safer Vehicles
- Safety Provisions; Vehicle Testing
- Registration; Fitness/ Maintenance
-
Enforcement of Traffic Regulations
- Seat belt/ Helmets; Child Restraint; Drunken Driving;
- Mobile use; Over loading; Encroachments, Licensing
-
Safety Education
- Safety inclusive Curriculum; Promotion; Awareness;
- Community Participation; Good Samaritan
-
Emergency Care
- Emergency Care Center; Ambulances and Networking
- Rescue Time; Uni-helpline
- Institutional Arrangement
- Road Safety Policy
- Funds Allocation
- Engineering Measures
- Capacity Enhancement
- State Road Safety Council headed by Transport Minister (in 2005)
- Road Safety Executive Leadership Group headed by Secretary, Highways (in 2015)
- Road Safety Management Cell headed by Transport Commissioner
- District Councils & Implementation Units (in 2000)
- Expert committee for Engineering recommendations
- First State to formulate Road Safety Policy in 2007 with bench-mark & targeted action plan
- 4 Es of Road safety are:
- Engineering
- Enforcement
- Education
- Emergency Care
- Widening of narrow bridges - 2062 bridges
- Improving the Curves - 168 locations
- Metal beam crash barrier installed - 1365 locations
- Junction Improvement - 124 Junctions
- Protecting tank bunds, road side well - 946 works
- Constructing speed breakers - 2081 works
- Accident black spot improvement - 334 works
- Level I training - 132 Engineers
- Level II training - 59 Engineers
- Certified Road Safety Audit Engineers - 65
- 231 Engineers trained by CRRI, N.Delhi, IIT-M under MoU with HRS, Chennai
- 69 Engineers & Officers trained @ IRTE, Faridabad & Anna Institute of Management.
- Knowledge sharing with Vic Roads, Australia under MoU with the State of TN
- Strategic assistance at state level for updation of Road safety Policy & Road Safety Act.
- Preparation of Specific Investment Plan for period up to 2025 for Highways, Transport, Police, Health & Education Department.
- Demonstration Project at District Level – Kanchipuram & Thiruvannamalai.
- Assess the road safety awareness requirement.
- Prepare Road Safety Awareness Program (RSAP)
- Carry out the pilot study
- Carry out Road Safety awareness campaign as per approved RSAP.
- Demonstration Corridor for 100 Km Length.
- Automatic Speed Enforcement System (ASES) in ECR for a length of 34.4 km
- High Resolution RADAR based Cameras to detect hi-speed vehicles
- Fatalities have reduced by 24% during 2018 ( compared to 2017)
- Resolved to reduce & reverse Road Crashes appreciably lower to reach SDG commitment
Sl. No | Year | Details of Fund allocationAmount Rs. in Crores) | ||
CRIDP | Road Safety Fund | Total | ||
1 | 2014-15 | 250.00 | 200.00 | 450.00 |
2 | 2015-16 | 206.87 | 100.00 | 306.87 |
3 | 2016-17 | 203.07 | 100.00 | 303.07 |
4 | 2017-18 | 216.12 | 100.00 | 316.12 |
5 | 2018-19 | 292.10 | 100.00 | 392.10 |
Total | 392.10 | 600.00 | 1768.16 |
Out of FIVE PRIORITY areas of Collaborative research with CSIR-CRRI, the first in the list is the Training on Road Safety Audit and related aspects.
As decided during the first co-ordination committee meeting held at CSIR-CRRI, New Delhi attended by the Director, HRS, Road Safety Audit training program for Highway Engineers was conducted for 5 days during October 2015 at Highways Research Station, Chennai.
Second batch of Road Safety Audit training program for 5 days was conducted by CRRI during March 2017 and about 50 Engineers from cadre DE to AE were benefitted.
Design stage Audit |
Field Audit |
During the year of 2019, Road Safety Audit training for 3 days was conducted in August 2019 for 40 Highway Engineers from cadre Divisional Engineers to Assistant Engineers.
Training on Road Safety Audit was also conducted by the experts of IIT Madras at Highways Research Station in 3 batches (3days each) during September-December 2018 and about 90 Highway Engineers were benefited.
Lecture Session |
Field Visit |
Road Safety Audit Training Programme was conducted at Highways Research Station by the experts from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras during November 20-22, 2019. 43 Engineers in the cadre of Divisional Engineers, Assistant Divisional Engineers and Assistant Engineers of different wings of the department have benefitted.
The Road Safety Audit was carried out by the trained Engineers of various wings of Highways Department during the months of October’19 and November’19:
CHENNAI OUTER RING ROAD – DUAL 3 LANE + SERVICE ROADSY
CHENNAI OUTER RING ROAD – DUAL 3 LANE + SERVICE ROADS
ILLUMINATED CHENNAI OUTER RING ROAD
SAFETY APPURTENANCES @ ECR – CHENNAI