Options for Making Roads Safe

Options for Making Urban Roads Safe
 Jit Kumar Gupta
*jit.kumar1944@gmail.com
Introduction
Producing 30.91 million motor
vehicles in the year 2018-19, India was
globally ranked the fourth largest car
manufacturer in the world; largest
manufacturer of three-wheelers as
(1.27 m units) and seventh largest
commercial vehicle (1.11 m units). In
addition, India's two-wheeler
manufacturers rolled out 24.5 m units
during the same period (Indian
Automobile Association). Considering
the fact, India is fast becoming global
hub of manufacturing the automobiles, leading to addition of more and more vehicles on the urban
roads, safety on urban roads and that of road- users is fast emerging as a major concern and issue
for the state, communities and people. With more and more accidents taking place, Indian roads
are being considered highly unsafe, reporting huge loss of life and property on day-to-day basis.
According to a report by the transport research wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways, Indian roads remain highly unsafe, recording largest fatalities in the world, followed
by China. Report further revealed that a total of 151,113 people were killed in 480,652 road
accidents across India in the year 2019, killing 414 persons a day or 17 an hour. As per available
statistics, on an average, a human life is lost every three and half minutes and 55 accidents are
reported every hour on the Indian roads. Number of unreported accidents and loss of life is
understood to be much higher in the country. Majority of people killed and injured are known to
be either pedestrian and cyclists, who constitute the most vulnerable section of road-users. Number
of mechanized two-wheelers vehicles involved in road accidents, have also shown increasing
trend in the recent years.

In order to minimize the loss of precious human lives and property, besides minimizing load on
healthcare infrastructures, it will be vital to make roads both safe, secure and supportive of
comfortable mobility of the people and communities. With large proportion of accidents taking
place in urban areas, it will be important, urban roads must be made area of focus to promote road
safety in the urban settlements. Road safety remains critical in urban context, as roads are known
for their role and importance, as promoters of efficacy, efficiency and productivity of urban areas.
Accordingly, roads must be planned and designed not only to facilitate mobility but also to make
them safe for all urban users to move , from one place to another, as a part of daily human
operations.
Road safety is also known to considerably impact the pattern of urban traffic and use of the urban
roads. Lack of road safety has emerged as the major roadblock/challenge in securing change in
urban mobility patterns. Majority of people consider road safety in their cities as a major problem
/ barrier in taking up cycling. It is critical to recognize that safer roads also mean sustainable roads
and if groups of road users are deterred from using unsafe roads, majority of them are likely to
shift and opt for other less sustainable modes of transport.
Despite critical importance of safer roads in the urban context, road safety has not been given
adequate addressed, focused and paid attention by policy makers, planners, administrators and
stakeholders. Achieving safety on roads has been largely confined to merely deploying regulatory
mechanism involving policy of policing and challaning and punishing the offenders. Road safety,
as an issue, has never been addressed holistically and made integral part of urban governance,
urban planning, development, management and sustainable urban mobility plans.
Road safety includes large number of stakeholders involving state, urban local bodies, parastatal
agencies, road users, vehicles plying on the roads, drivers, infrastructure providers, urban/transport
planners, unified traffic regulatory authorities, police etc. Stakeholders have never been brought
on same platform to discuss, deliberate and address the issue of urban safety in a rational, focused
and holistic manner.

Unfortunately, road safety has been considered largely a government responsibility with least
involvement of the road users, communities, society and other stakeholders. This has led to
emergence of a peculiar culture being developed among road users of violating all norms and
standards of road safety, when assured that there is no body monitoring their road behavior. This
notion and culture have led to making roads highly unsafe particularly during evening, night and
early morning hours, when there is minimum surveillance on roads. For making urban roads safe,
it will be critical and vital, to make road safety a shared responsibility involving communities and
stakeholders, actively and rationally. Approach and efforts are urgently needed to make road safety
a community and people led movement, involving all stakeholders, which would help in making
cities more safe, livable, productive, effective and efficient.
Issues
There remain large number of issues related to road safety, which have not been adequately
addressed and which require focused attention, to make urban roads safe. Making roads safer
provide value addition to the operational efficiency and quality of living in the urban areas. Roads
are known for their capacity and value to makes urban areas more productive and operationally
efficient. Despite distinct role, safer roads play in the urban context, they continue to remain
unsafe. Major issues which hinder the safety on urban roads are observed to include; Heterogeneity
and mixing of conflicting traffic moving on the urban Roads- both mechanical/non-mechanical;
low priority to safety of roads and road users; inadequate road space available under traffic and
transportation; disconnect between urban planning and planning for safer roads; poor road
geometry; poor quality of urban roads; inadequate road infrastructure; poor road signages; low
level of road literacy; growing mismatch between road capacity and increasing population of
vehicles ; lack of traffic regulatory controls in majority of urban settlements; high degree of
encroachment on road space; leasing road space to informal sector for trade and commerce;
absence of well-defined hierarchy of urban roads; absence of well-defined norms for road planning
and development; lack of resources for planning and development of safer roads; multiplicity of
agencies operating at state and local level ; lack of trained manpower for planning and designing
safe roads; lack of well-defined/adequate parking spaces; large proportion of road space used for
parking of vehicles; low priority to planning for safety of pedestrians and cyclists in the traffic
network; outdated legal framework; poor enforcement of existing legal framework; low capacity
of local agencies to address the issue of road safety; lack of respect for traffic related laws; absence

of well-defined vision/mission; absence of adequate research in the area of road safety; non-
involvement of communities in making roads safe etc.
Options
Considering the major implications and importance of having safer urban roads, globally
nations/cities are trying to find options to promote highest order of road safety to protect the life
and liberty of the road-users and ensure rational functioning of the cities and towns. These efforts
revolve around creating an enabling environment for making roads safe; educating and involving
communities; rationalizing legal framework governing the traffic; promoting research in the area
of road safety; allocating more resources; rationalizing the priority for road users; promoting safer
means of mobility; creating appropriate safer road supportive infrastructure; focusing on
vulnerable road users; promoting pedestrianization and cycling; minimizing use of personal
vehicles; reducing congestion ; looking at best options to make roads safe ; networking with cities
and nations to find best options and learn from their experiences etc. Based on the principles used
and practices adopted/made operational globally, to promote efficacy and efficiency of urban
operations, following options can be leveraged to achieve the objectives of making roads safe in
the urban context;
 Each city must be made to define their Visionabout road safety, specifying the targets they
would like to achieve in terms of reducing accidents and reducing vulnerability of road
users within a given time span and laydown a mission approach to achieve the defined
objectives. Cities must make effort to reduce accidents by a minimum of 50% in a time
span of 5 years and declare a policy of zero tolerance to road violations, leading ultimately
to zero accident
 For making urban roads safe, it will be critical to adopt and promote a policy of modal
priority for road users based on safety, vulnerability and sustainability, by redefining and
re-order priority of traffic and transportation planning from -Planning for Vehicles to
Planning for People-with focus on people and not on vehicles. In such an option, highest
care and priority will go to the safety of people who walk, followed by cyclists and people
opting for mass transportation, with individual mechanized vehicles like cars, having least
priority.

 Promoting accessibility and not mobility- should remain the underlying theme of
transportation planning to make roads safe by planning, designing self-contained and self-
sufficient communities besides leveraging technologies including, ICT, IOT, Online
payments, Suvidha Kendras etc to minimize travel on urban roads and reduce number of
trips.
 According Road safety, highest priority by making it integral part of Urban planning
involving preparing Master Plans, Development Plans, Zonal Plans, local area plans and
Sustainable Urban Transportation planning and development strategies at the local level.
 Promoting Road safety should invariably involve mandating all cities to define and follow
a well- defined hierarchy of urban roads, matching road functions to speed limit, layout
and design, based on the principle of the Safe System approach. Hierarchy must clearly
specify norms and standards for each category of urban road involving; right of way, width
of carriage way, nature and volume of traffic to be catered, elements of road design, street
furniture, services, landscape, footpaths, parking etc.; based on their context and nature and
volume of traffic to be catered by roads and should be planned, designed and developed
accordingly.
 Road safety must focus on making walking and cycling to be the most important and
safest modes of urban transport and evolving/putting in place, options to eliminate their
vulnerability to accidents when involved in conflict with mechanized vehicles while using
the roads. Safe road design for walking and cycling is known to accelerate the acceptance
of these sustainable modes of travel and reduce their risk/vulnerability. Availabile limited
road space in urban areas needs to be optimally, effectively and efficiently used, to enable
increased mobility without putting road users in danger. This would require dedicating
some of the space currently reserved for motor vehicles, for walking and cycling.

 Empowering pedestrians and cyclists in terms of safety would require imparting
education, creating awareness and creating appropriate features/infrastructures for their
safety while using the roads. Heavy traffic flows remain invariably major deterrent to
cycling. Conflict between cyclists and motor vehicles can be effectively reduced by
introduction of specific bicycle lanes; making areas car-free; closing minor streets to motor
vehicles to facilitate cycling. Installing cyclist sensors at junctions with traffic lights for
detecting a cyclist and extending the green light timing to give the cyclist enough time to
pass through the junction, has led to change of a mindset in traffic management, as cyclist
mobility stands prioritized over the motorized road users.
 Road safety needs to be accorded due priority, by allocating dedicated funds at the national,
state and local level for achieving the defined levels of urban road safety. Funds collected
from road violations should be used for promoting research in road safety.
 Road safety must be made integral part of educationcurricula at school level, for creating
awareness about the subject, to modify the behavior of the road users at the earliest stage
of life. Involving educational institutions and students, on regular basis, can help in creating
awareness and understanding the context of road safety among users to make urban roads
safe.
 All existing urban roads must be classified based on level of safety achieved and notified
for the information of the people of the city. Extensive studies must be taken to figure out
reasons for accidents on particular roads/stretches recording high incidences of accidents,
along with remedial steps defined and implemented to make them safe.
 Using urban planning mechanism to promote road safety by avoiding direct access to the
major roads to all residential planning and development. No residential planning along the
arterial roads should be permitted to avoid accidents in residential areas. Principle of

Introvert planning followed in the planning of residential sector of Chandigarh, with no
house opening/facing the arterial roads, could be used as an option to promote road safety
in residential areas.
 Eliminating mixing of goods traffic and passenger traffic and redirecting/re-routing
goods traffic from urban habitable areas, are known to promote road safety and reduce
fatal accidents on urban roads.
 Rationalizinginterandintra-citytraffic is known to make urban roads safe by eliminating
the conflict between city and through traffic, reducing traffic load and cutting down
number of accidents in urban areas, involving heavy goods/passenger vehicles.
 Concept of streets instead of roads, when used in the planning of residential areas, is
known to promote high degree of safety in urban settlements, considering the distinct
advantages streets hold over the roads, in terms of managing and rationalizing flow of the
local traffic.
 Holding exhibitions and lectures on road safety at the local/ community level, on regular
basis, can be used an option for promoting a culture of road safety among road users.
 Educating road users about the road safety should also be made integral part of agencies
involved in traffic planning and management. Creating dedicated cells for
promoting/educating about road safety within all such agencies, can be major contributors
to achieving road safety in urban areas.For achieving road safety, city must focus on the
most vulnerable sections of society including slums, informal settlements and areas
housing the informal sector for educating, creating awareness and empowering them, while
using the roads. Road safety will require special focus on children, elders, senior citizens
and physically challenged, considering their vulnerability as road users by creating
appropriate framework for safety.

 Involving NGOs& CBOs; Partnering, co-operating and collaborating with voluntary
based organizations, community-based organizations and non-governmental
organizations will be vital to make road safety as the people led movement.
 Creating a think tank at local level, comprising of subject experts, academicians,
voluntary organizations, industrial/trade organizations, professional bodies like Indian
Institute of Architects/Institute of Town Planners /Institute of Engineers etc. ,would help
in creating a realistic road map for achieving road safety for the city.
 Educating Drivers; Since road safety revolves around behaviour, capacity , knowledge
and understanding of the driver while on the road, it will be critical to educate and train
them about the importance of safe driving while being on the road. Making licensing
stringent and ensuring continued evaluation of the drivers, with regard to their eligibility,
capacity and commitment to rational and orderly driving, would help in making urban
roads safe.
 Ensuring cyclists and pedestrians have a minimum level of traffic education and
awareness of the risks imposed by the current traffic system; introducing/ enforcing a
system of sanctions on pedestrians and cyclists, exposing themselves/other road users to
unnecessary risks; encouraging cyclists to wear helmets and having adequate lighting when
cycling in the dark etc., will help in promoting their safety on urban roads
 Eliminating multiplicity of agencies; For addressing the issue of road safety in an
integrated and holistic manner, it will be desirable to eliminate multiplicity of agencies
operating in the area to be replaced by a single agency looking at planning, designing,
operation, management and enforcement of road safety besides licensing of the driver in
an integrated manner. Agency should also be empowered to adjudicate on all road-based
offences/issues for speedier/rational resolutions.
 Capacity Building; Developing, encouraging and capacity buildings of the city level
institutions to create and implement appropriate framework related to traffic calming,
intersection improvements, safe pedestrian crossings ,cycling infrastructure design and
renewing/maintain them on regular basis , based on the latest research and innovation in
the area of road safety will help achieve the objective of making roads safe.
 Documenting Good Practices; Setting up a knowledge sharing platform at the state
/regional levels, for documenting all prevailing good practices related to road safety and
sharing among cities for adoption and implementation, will help local agencies adopting
and innovating new options for road safety at local level. Awarding and recognizing
agencies/ individuals/organizations, doing exemplary work in the domain of road safety
will help in improving road safety in urban areas bringing more innovations.
 Rationalizing existing legal framework, governing traffic and transportation by including
road safety as an essential ingredient of the urban transportation, will be critical for
promoting road safety.
 Checking Health ; Creating an effective and efficient mechanism of checking the health
of vehicles regarding their road worthiness on regular basis can be a major contributor to
promoting urban road safety
 Rational siting and use of Traffic Signs are known for the value to communicate laws,
directions, crosswalks, designated areas, pedestrian zones, speed limits, work zones, and

other key pieces of information that help increased awareness and confidence for drivers,
pedestrians, and cyclists.
 Active co-operations and collaborations regarding cross-border exchange of information
on traffic offences will help in promoting road safety and minimizing road related offences.
 Creating a national/state/local level data bank regarding vehicles ownership, vehicle
details, offences committed and an efficient tracking system, can be effectively leveraged
for achieving road safety.
 Showing zero tolerance to drunken driving and unsafe/dangerous driving leading to
death or injury to road users, by awarding exemplary punishment and making them
ineligible to drive in future, will help in reducing number of road accidents. Strict traffic
law enforcement is shown to make important contribution to improving urban road safety
and changing road user behaviour.
 Linking quantum of annual premium of car and personal insurance to be paid with
the number of traffic offences/accidents committed (paying higher premium when
involved in accidents) will help in making people more responsible, committed, careful
and watchful, while driving on the roads
 Setting up Traffic Command Centres at the local level would be of great help in making
urban roads highly safe by effectively monitoring the flow of traffic, understanding
behavior of the road users, identifying most vulnerable traffic spots, recording accidents,
understanding the causes of accidents, identifying traffic hold up and rationalizing the
smooth flow of traffic at the local level.
 Leveraging technology, using cameras and sensors on the urban roads would help in
effectively monitoring the behaviour of the road users, flow of traffic 24x7x365, character
of traffic, adequacy/inadequacy of infrastructures etc., to make roads safe in the urban
context.
 Evolving and putting in place a rational and realistic road safety strategy, duly supported
witha dedicatedbudget and collaboration between different departments and stakeholders,
at local level, can help in achieving high levels of road safety.
 Limiting speed of the vehicles is also known for its efficacy to reduce vulnerability of the
road users and in making urban roads safe. Prescribing rational speed limits, duly
supported by infrastructure measures and proper checks, has its own credibility. Many
cities and towns globally have successfully introduced a system across their urban
networks, where vehicles are permitted to travel at 50 km/h on major roads and 30 km/h
for other roads to reduce road accidents. Few cities have even adopted 30 / 40 km/h speed
limit, as standard for the urban roads to promote safety.
 Studies conducted by the Swedish Transport Research Institute (VTI) have shown that
Traffic calming and separation of vulnerable road users from motorized traffic are
known for their capacity to reduce congestion and make urban roads safe by reducing
serious road traffic injuries. Road calming has also helped in shifting large volume of motor
vehicles, from local city roads to arterial /national roads, where vehicles can travel at higher
speeds, and have limited possibility of getting into conflicts with pedestrians or cyclists.
Lower speeds and reductions in motorized traffic, achieved through traffic calming, has
encouraged citizens to walk and cycle.

Global Good Practices for Road Safety
Considering the ever-increasing number of accidents, leading to considerable loss of human lives
and property, globally cities are searching to find appropriate and possible options to make their
roads safe for the users by eliminating all possible conflicts. Largescale experimentation is being
made to change the behaviour of the road users; creating awareness/responsibility about road
safety among road users; shifting people to safer modes of walking and cycling ;minimizing the
use of personalized vehicles; creating improved infrastructures and leveraging technologies to
make urban roads safe. Good practices adopted for promoting road safety by different
cities/countries have been enumerated below;
 LATVIA- used the mechanism of funding General Road Safety campaigns 3-4 times in
a year for modulating change in attitude of road users; targeted infrastructure
improvements duly supported by gradual implementation of 30 km/h zones, installation of
speed humps; management of high risk sites and construction of pedestrian / bicycle
infrastructure, which led to improving the safety on the urban roads .
 CZECH REPUBLIC—Improved urban road safety with recorded decrease in number of
people killed made possible by; gradual implementation of traffic calming measures;
upgradation of pavements; building cycling supportive infrastructure; illuminating
pedestrian crossings; promoting speed enforcement by safety cameras ; carrying out
stringent police roadside checks; decrease in number of drivers violating the speed limit on
urban roads.
 POLAND- Town of Jaworzno promoted road safety by; narrowing the town’s streets;
traffic calming; creating dedicated 30 km/h zones; redirecting through-traffic passing
through the city; reconstructing 30% of town’s streets; decreasing car users; promoting
walking and cycling.
 PORTUGAL- Promoted safety on urban roads by; integrating road safety with
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan; improving road infrastructure; diverting traffic from
national roads to new motorways / other major roads; reduced traffic volumes due to
economic slowdown.
 FRANCE- Achieved high degree of road safety by making and implementing Urban
Mobility Plans mandatory for municipalities having population more than 100,000 ;
ensuring coordination between different modes of transport; improving road safety;
environmental protection; increased access to transport for people with reduced mobility;
partially funding Road safety work by money collected from safety camera ticket fines.
 London Prepared Vision Zero Plan—for road safety; mandating by 2041, 80% of all
journeys to be performed by walking, cycling and public transport ; investing in streets
to make them safer for walking / cycling; lowering speed limits in congested areas;
transforming dangerous junctions; prescribing safety standards for design of heavy goods
vehicles; launching comprehensive bus safety programme supported by Intelligent Speed
Assistance ; launching training course for all drivers; defining Congestion Charging Zone
and intensifying police enforcement activities.

 Amsterdam is trying to achieve highest degree of road safety by systematically stripping
its inner-city parking spaces since 2019; reducing the number of permitted parking
annually by around 1,500 to remove 11,200 parking spaces by the end of 2025; using
cleared parking spaces for bike parking, creating wider sidewalks and planting large
number of trees.
Conclusion
Urban settlements are fast emerging places where the majority of journeys begin and end.
Accordingly, these urban centers are facing multiple, often conflicting needs and challenges, when
it comes to managing the way people and goods move around. With fast changing options of urban
travel and mobility, nature of these challenges is also evolving and devolving. With rapid increase
in urban population coupled with increasing longevity of life and low affordability of majority of
urban residents, large proportion of urban population is being forced to walk and cycle, making
them most vulnerable to the prevailing chaotic traffic conditions on urban roads. Increasing
concern about vehicles, causing high degree of air pollution is also gaining currency on political
agenda to promote sustainability by reducing/limiting the number of personalized vehicles on the
urban roads.
Considering the entire context of traffic and transportation in urban setting, Road safety remains
largely a complex and vexed issue, particularly in the Indian context, due to large number of
factors involved, which inter-alia include; unpredictable behaviour of road users; large number
of old and outdated vehicles using roads; callous driving; lack of respect for other road users;
limited availability of space under roads; poor and outdated road geometry; high degree of
encroachment on road space; mixing of passenger and good traffic; lack of understanding and
respect for rules and regulations governing the use of the road and road behaviour; outdated rules
and regulations focusing primarily on punishment; large scale corruption prevailing in the police
force manning the traffic; absence of well-defined criteria for manpower deployment in traffic
management; poor road infrastructure; lack of availability of trained manpower in traffic and
transportation; road safety commanding low priority; large disconnect between road safety and
urban planning, development and management; inadequate/absence of availability of dedicated
funds for road safety; multiplicity of agencies operating in the area of traffic planning; delayed

delivery of justice etc. Providing safe mobility, to vulnerable road users remain the most
challenging task and presents a major challenge to agencies engaged in making urban roads safe.
This challenge needs to be effectively met and taken up on priority for winning the confidence of
road users, by authorities operating at local level.
Considering the emerging role and importance of urban India in; housing large proportion of
national population; making India a 5 trillion economy; generating large employment; eradicating
poverty and ushering prosperity; providing quality infrastructure, acting as centers of innovations
and quality living etc., it will be both critical and vital that urban settlements are made
operationally efficient, economically vibrant, socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable. This
can happen only if the urban roads are made safe to walk, drive and are able to lead urban residents
to their homes in a safe mode. Since efficiency and efficacy of urban areas is largely contingent
upon its efficient transportation and mobility network, accordingly making urban roads safe will
be vital, critical and essential to make urban areas more sustainable, safe, resilient and inclusive,
as mandated in the SDG 11, defined by United Nations.
Achieving the objective of promoting effective road safety would also require involving and
creating appropriate and dedicated funding, duly supported by well-defined long term realistic and
rational planning, policies and programs. Considering the nature of road safety, local level
authorities would need to be empowered, adequately and appropriately, with financial resources
and technical manpower to professionally address the complexity of road safety and effectively
implementing the road safety related plans at the local level. How best it will be done effectively
and efficiently, will hold the key to make urban settlements more productive and great places to
live and work.
 Note-- For writing this paper, author would like to gratefully and thankfully acknowledge
the valuable input received from the contents/intent of the Report – Safer Roads, Safer
Cities: How To Improve Urban Safety in The EU-Pin Flash Report 37,authors- Dovilé
Adminaité ; Graziella Jost; Henk Stipdon; Heather Ward; Richard Allsop -dated June
2019,
 Note’; All images are sourced through google.com, which are gratefully and sincerely
appreciated and acknowledged. They are used to illustration the text.
Author;
**Jit Kumar Gupta
Former Advisor, Town Planning Punjab Urban Development Authority
#344, Sector 40-A, Chandigarh-160036
mail- jit.kumar1944@gmail.com, mob- 90410-26414

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