What makes a journey safe - better drivers or better roads? While we are agreed that India’s road safety record needs to improve, how we are going to go about it remains a matter of some debate. While most road users are convinced it is our roads which need improving, the powers that be would reply unblinkingly that accidents are caused by dangerous road user behaviour.
Road accidents claim lives and limbs by the thousands, across the country. While the mere numbers must tempt traffic policemen to arrive at an accident site, do a preliminary interview with eyewitnesses, apportion blame and dispose of the accident debris, there is more to a road accident investigation than the cursory nod it currently receives. India, as one of the signatories of the Brasilia Declaration, is committed to halving road accident deaths by 2020.
