India’s roads are among the deadliest in the world

by confuzzled dude Sat May 23, 2015 9:21 am

CHENNAI, India — When it opened in 2001, the East Coast Road in southern India gave drivers a smooth, modern link to coastal resorts and an open stretch of highway to gun their engines on weekends.

The 425-mile road also is a glaring example of why, with just 1 percent of the world’s automobiles, India accounts for 15 percent of global traffic deaths, according to the World Bank.

In 2013, there were 174 accidents on the East Coast Road, and 24 people died. So many men from the villages flanking the road have been run over by speeding vehicles and drunken drivers in the past decade that their bereaved wives are called “ECR widows.”

India has some of the deadliest roads in the world, with more than 200,000 fatalities every year, according to the World Health Organization. The nation’s supreme court calls India’s roads “giant killers.” Experts say that many of the accused go free because of weak and outdated motor vehicle regulations, routine corruption, lagging investigations and painfully slow court trials.

“The city partygoers think the road belongs to them. They drive as if there are no villages and no people on either side of the road,” said Sumati Ravichandran, 35, an ECR widow in Vada Nemmeli village. Her husband lay there without any help for more than an hour.

Medical experts say that half of those who died in road accidents could have been saved if they were admitted to a hospital in the first hour. Fearing long court cases and police harassment, bystanders often hesitate to help accident victims. Last year, the supreme court ordered the government to pass a law to protect good Samaritans who rush accident victims to the hospital. But the government has not delivered.

Saravanan said the courts cannot bring his wife back. And he has little hope for justice.

“They will use every trick they know to keep their son out of jail. But what about my 7-year-old daughter who has been left motherless?” Saravanan said, sitting by his wife’s motionless sewing machine.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/will-new-safety-laws-tame-indias-deadly-roads/2015/05/21/5bd4de54-fa4d-11e4-a47c-e56f4db884ed_story.html

by Guest Sat May 23, 2015 10:00 am

the brain stops working when you start thinking about india.

by confuzzled dude Sat May 23, 2015 10:36 am

brie wrote:the brain stops working when you start thinking about india.

Yup. Last year, an acquaintance of mine who landed in India and was traveling home, which is about 250 miles from the airport, killed in highway road accident. The body was lying by the roadside till their family went looking for him, of course, all the valuables on him were missing. I'm glad that supreme court ordered the government to pass a law to protect good samaritans who rush accident victims to the hospital. I've a personal experience with this (I think I mentioned this before), About 35 years ago, my father and a friend of his going on a scooter, were hit by a tractor, that guy ran away. They were by the roadside for several hours before they got help. His friend was unconscious having suffered blood loss and my father couldn't move with both legs fractured, he was waving his handkerchief but nobody would bother to stop nor help, till a good samaritan arrived to rescue them. We're very fortunate that way.

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India’s roads are among the deadliest in the world

India’s roads are among the deadliest in the world

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Re: India’s roads are among the deadliest in the world

Re: India’s roads are among the deadliest in the world