Safer roads for a greener, more sustainable environment

Road is the cheapest way of transport, for shorter distances. In this essay, I’ll speak to you about the context and the various activities and initiatives done by the govenment and public participation, in making roads safer, resulting in greener and sustainable environment.

Road transport:

• It is the dominant mode of transport in India, in terms of traffic share and in terms of contribution to the national economy.
• A negative externality of expansion in road network, motorization and urbanization in the country is the increase in road accidents and road crash fatalities.
• India is estimated to have about 22.5(twenty two point five)million end-of-life vehicles by 2025.

Major reasons for road accidents:

• Infrastructural deficits
• Negligence and risks: Over speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol etc)
• Distraction: Talking over mobile phones
• Overloading: To save on the cost of transportation.
• Lack of awareness: Regarding the importance of safety features like airbags, Anti lock Braking system etc.

Missing or inadequate signages leading cause of road crashes.

• Reasons for accidents:
• Speeding accounted for 69.3(sixty nine point three)% of deaths.
• Non-wearing of helmets resulted in 30.1(thirty point one)% deaths.
• Non-use of seatbelts caused 11.5(eleven point five)% of deaths.

Environmental impact of vehicular accidents:

• Toxic metals: Most vehicles contain toxic metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium, which are detrimental to the environment.
• Fuel and fluid leaks at crash sites.
• Severe road crashes lead to automobile wreckage, which becomes a part of unusable end-of-life vehicles.

Issues with National Automobile Scrappage Policy, 2021:

• Absence of widespread, systematic facilities dedicated to their proper recycling.
• vehicles after road crashes as well as old end-of-life automobiles are left to rot by the wayside.
• Landfills or at informal recycling facilities where rudimentary hand tools are utilized to unscientifically dismantle them.
• leads to the leakage of hazardous constituents such as oils, coolants and glass wool.
• Vehicle landfills turn into automobile graveyards leading to wasteful and sub-optimal land usage and water and soil pollution.

Issues of Speeding limits:

• In 2020: speeding was responsible for 69.3(sixty nine point three)% of all road crash deaths registered.
• Road fatalities: It is responsible for over 60% of all road crash fatalities in India in the last five years.

Global initiatives and studies:

• Europe: Demonstrated that cutting motorway speed limits even by 10 km/h can deliver 12% to 18% fuel savings for current technology passenger cars.
• Significant reduction in pollutant emissions, particularly Nitrogen Oxides and particulate matter (PM) output, from diesel vehicle
• Amsterdam: Demonstrated that where the speed limit was lowered from 100 km/h to 80 km/h, PM reduced by up to 15% improving air quality.
• Wales government brought in 80 km/h speed limits at five locations across Wales to reduce outdoor pollution and improve public health.
• Other Studies: Highway speed limits of 96.5(ninety six point five)km/h are 25% more efficient than limits of 120 km/h, in which case wind resistance leads to more fuel consumption.

Various initiatives:

• Road safety initiatives undertaken and recommended by the SaveLIFE Foundation:
• They are designed to be impactful and environment-friendly.
• Zero-Fatality Corridor (ZFC) programme on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in 2016: It helped bring down road crash fatalities by 52%, as of 2020.
• Old Mumbai-Pune Highway(2018): It helped reduce the road crash fatalities on this stretch by 61%, as of 2021.

Other Initiatives:

• Guarding natural hard structures such as trees using crash barriers to prevent direct collisions
• Installing retro reflective signage on the trees to make them more visible to commuters.

Way Forward

• Several governments globally have reduced speed limits to prevent crashes and lower air pollution.
• Zero-Fatality Corridor solution: In India, the Zero-Fatality Corridor solution for road safety by the SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) takes environmental sustainability seriously.
• It focuses on reducing speeding through advanced engineering and enforcement technologies.
• Building green corridors to go over forests and animal paths as opposed to going through them. Scaling this will have a profound impact on preserving the environment while ensuring better road connectivity.
• Using Aluminium Composite Panels instead of asbestos for creating signages: As asbestos has an adverse impact on the environment, the ZFC programme opts only for long-lasting, high-quality, non-hazardous material for signage.
• Safer roads and a sustainable environment can be ensured only through the joint efforts of road-owning agencies, enforcement officials and the public.