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The years 2011-2020 have been designated as the Decade of Action for Road Safety by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This is a global acknowledgement of the gravity of road safety issues across the world and the lives being lost to it. Internationally, road accidents kill as many people as the major pandemics, malaria and TB^[1] .

If you’ve spent any time on Indian roads, chances are you’ve seen an accident. Why, there is one every 4 minutes. So many that they are hard to escape – and I’m not saying that as a prophet of doom. 

Introduction

In 2014, Tamil Nadu had the highest number of road accidents in the country and the highest number of deaths. Media reports invariably say that Indian roads are considered some of most dangerous in the world. Considering all these alarming stories on the low level of road safety in India, I thought it would be interesting to look at how public opinion is shaped on the issue of road accidents and road safety.

Back in 2000, I was conscripted into teaching a friend to drive a two-wheeler. My friend had bought a Scooty or rather inveigled her father into buying one. He did so with the proviso that I teach her to drive it. So every weekend I would head over to their place and we would drive around.