Description

A road safety expert group has submitted a new bill to the Ministry of Transport. It proposes a coordinated, national road-safety board, responsible for data collection, and prevention measures such as reducing speeding and drink driving. It’s now under review. India is not alone. Other countries also experience huge increases in deaths and injuries as they build new roads and import new vehicles, like Brazil.

Transcript

Improving the Road and Traffic Code in India and Brazil Host: Harman hears that a road safety expert group which includes Dr. Varghese submitted a new bill to the Ministry of Transport. It proposes a coordinated, national road- safety board, responsible for data collection, and prevention measures such as reducing speeding and drink driving. It’s now under review. Matthew Varghese: We need to have designated persons in the different ministries, say Transport Ministry, say the Environment Ministry, say the Health Ministry and there has to be inter- sectoral coordination and sharing of information and professionals that are trained to look at the statistics and the figures that are developed from different ministries, so that he can take decisions that are sensible for the society. Here, if I tell there is a road which is not safe, which is not good for people, the police will see, but they’ll not make a decision, it’s not our job, it’s the municipality’s job. The municipality says it’s not our job. The police are supposed - - he’s not making a decision. So everybody is passing the buck. You don’t take ownership. You need to designate people, they need to have coordination. Unless this happens, you can keep saying Indians are bad behaved people, they don’t know how to ride in the road, and same for I would say Indians don’t -- drivers most kill people. They are driving under the most trying circumstances. Harman: That’s right. Matthew Varghese: Get an American to drive here and he’d say, “No, I can’t drive, I’m scared. Harman: The first thing that has been underlined by nearly everybody that is the licensing system, that needs to be strengthened. The drivers need to be more educated, and the engineering part which includes the road development, that has to be improved Host: India is not alone. Other countries are also experiencing huge increases in deaths and injuries as they build more roads and import more vehicles. Speeding, drink driving, lack of seatbelts and helmets and inadequate enforcement are common. “What solutions have others found?” Harman’s always wondered. Harman: I am on my way to Sao Paulo in Brazil to see the similarities and differences between these two countries. I will be looking at what difference has national code made to the Brazilian roads. Host: Sao Paulo, the richest State in Brazil. 19 million people live in the city which is struggling to cope with 500 new vehicles on the roads a day. Harman: I’ve been on the Sao Paulo roads for the last few days and I’ve seen the traffic is quite well managed. I want to know that how the Brazilian government was able to do it. Is it only the national traffic code which has made the difference or is it much beyond that? I think political will is important part of it. Host: Brazil has an advantage over India. It does have a national traffic code passed in 1997. Initially, the new code brought the death toll down but not for long. Paramedics now arrive at crash scenes like this in record time saving hundreds of lives. But 35,000 Brazilians die in road crashes and almost half a million are injured every year. Harman meets Eduardo Vasconcellos who’s just evaluated the national traffic code. Eduardo Vasconcellos: One of the main problems with the new Highway Code is that the mandate to control the traffic was devolved from the national government down to the local level. And the main issue here is that not every council has the ability to do this control properly. They lack technicians, engineers. They don’t have the right resources in place. Host: Sao Paulo has the highest number of crashes in the country, around 25,000 every year, and as in India, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and cyclists are the main victims. The phenomenon of Motor Boys, as they’re known, exploded onto Sao Paulo’s streets 10 years ago when unemployment was high. Now they compete for space on the city’s massive network of roads and expressways. Everyday 25 motorcyclists are injured, at least one dies. Male: Many times it's the Motor Boys’ fault because they aren’t careful enough. They are aggressive, swerving in and out of the traffic. They want to go faster because many companies want them to deliver faster. The work has to be done but they shouldn't behave like idiots because that’s when accidents happen in the traffic. Host: To reduce the number of motorbike crashes, Sao Paulo’s traffic department has created the country’s first motorbike only lane, a two-kilometer stretch in the center of the city. As in India, drivers in Brazil will have to accept that motorbikes are here to stay.