Getting a foothold on road safety

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The Indian businessman, Rohit Baluja, has become one of the most articulate and outspoken advocates of road safety in developing countries. A leading figure in his country’s shoe industry, Baluja was converted to the cause that has become his lifelong passion during regular business trips to Europe

"Whenever I was driving along the autobahn in Germany or Austria,” recalls Rohit Baluja, “I was struck by the realisation that nobody tried to steal my right of way! This was in stark contrast to the situation back home in India, where virtually nobody respected the rights of other road users. Indeed, I am not even sure anyone knew what a right of way actually meant at that time!” Intrigued by such radical differences in driver behaviour, Baluja began to realise the lifesaving potential of establishing a new basis for improved driver training and awareness in his homeland. He also started to question the very underpinnings of the prevailing responses to road safety in the developing world context. Speaking during the Geneva launch of the IRF Group of Experts on Road Safety, Baluja particularly highlighted the shortcomings of what he termed a ‘cut and paste’ approach. “We have consultants from all over the world coming in and telling us what is wrong and what should be done. Over the last 20 years, however, I have not been convinced that such investment in foreign expertise has brought about the meaningful improvements hoped  for.”

On the contrary, he points to accident figures and fatalities that have continued to rise alarmingly throughout the developing world, with India alone currently accounting for a massive 10% of global road fatalities.

Another brick in the wall! Using the analogy of a wall, Baluja argues forcefully that it will never be possible to build a climate of road safety in developing countries by indiscriminately adding, or filling gaps with, ‘bricks’ inappropriately borrowed from the developed world, without first ensuring that the necessary underpinnings for sustainable progress are in place. “Too often the tendency is to delude ourselves into thinking we are building modern networks by borrowing the best systems from countries like the U.K. The problem is that the measures we introduce rapidly start to fall down like so many bricks in an inherently unstable edifice because nobody paid attention to ensuring that the prerequisite foundations were in place. We then seek further consultancy advice to patch the damage – someone suggests a road safety week, someone else a radio campaign – but ultimately
the whole structure tumbles and yet again we ask ourselves where we went wrong.”

In Baluja’s view the answer can usually be traced back to a general lack of understanding regarding the specific conditions and requirements of the developing world, where the reality is one of chronically unsafe conditions, inadequate legislation and poor or non-existent standards. He is convinced that the key to redressing the situation lies in scientific accident investigation, reconstruction and analysis of factual consequences and causes designed to provide a basis for effective remedial measures: “Without such groundwork, it is simply not possible to establish the solid foundations from which the ‘walls’ of credible road safety strategies may be built.” As Baluja emphasised during his visit to the IRF Group of Experts and other road safety instances based in Geneva, much of the work being undertaken in the developed nations is either not directly applicable to the mixed traffic conditions that characterise the developing world, or is failing to percolate through to those countries most in need. The groundbreaking UNECE (6504 UN Economic Commission for Europe) Conventions on Road Traffic, for example, have been signed by some 164 countries, but only 40 or so – for the most part located in Europe and North America - are actively engaged on a regular basis in the deliberations of the UNECE Working Party 1 dedicated to road safety. The others remain largely unaware of the wealth of knowledge, resolutions and model standards available to them.

The Road Safety Gap

This ‘gap’ between the developed and developing worlds simply cannot be overstated. “It follows,” emphasises Baluja, that “we cannot blindly replicate the solutions and models of developed countries, given the variety of political and cultural systems found in regions like the Indian sub-continent, coupled with the prevalence of mixed traffic conditions that represent a marked contrast to the relative discipline of the roads I observed in countries like Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. - where traffic control devices worked to perfection and the road markings and signages were cutting edge – or in the United States where respect for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians was the norm. By way of comparison, in my country – even in the capital – we have almost every type of vehicle known to man sharing the roads, with hardly any design standards in place. Vulnerable road users such as children are exposed to severe risk and alarming numbers of them are killed each year simply on their way to school. Similarly, in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand or Vietnam, we see upwards of 65 – 85 % of the road population made up of two-wheelers, plus a high frequency of non-motorised transport and vulnerable road users. Those few standards that do exist tend to be drawn from inappropriate British, Australian and American models that are woefully ineffectual in the face of virtually universal violation of traffic norms.” Whilst acknowledging their vital importance, Baluja highlights that the current focus of the international road safety community on issues like helmets, drink driving and speed must be underpinned in the developing world context by priority attention to evolving road design standards and appropriate legislation specifically tailored to the prevailing conditions. “Effective regulations and legislation are dependent,“ he affirms, “on a standardised road environment, where traffic control devices like road markings, signage and signals are uniformly installed and enforced.” When, as in countries like India, control devices are not standard, not mandated by legislation or not installed, there is no respect for them and the foundations of driver training rest on very weak ground.

The Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE)

“All this calls for regional research and capacity,” affirms Baluja, which is why, in December 1991, he set up a pioneering Institute of Road Traffic Education (www.irte.com) in New Delhi. 3228 IRTE advocates a ‘bottom up’ approach based on “understanding the cause of violations through scientific research – including video recording, accident investigation, safety audits of roads and related environments, interviews with drivers and other road users – and integrating the research findings with standards and legislation to develop tools and systems of training to meet the needs of drivers in different categories.” To mark the launch of the UN Decade of Action, IRTE has recently been complemented by a dedicated College of Traffic Management, established to take forward the vision of creating an umbrella facility for “research-based training for capacity building in road safety management for India and developing countries.” It operates as a global centre of excellence, and comprises five formal schools: the Centre for Analysis & Research in Road Safety; the School of Driver Training; the School of Traffic Enforcement; the School of Road Safety Education & Media Development, and the School of Public Health for Road Safety. Baluja’s ambition for the faculties – which will be introduced more fully in the second part of this article - is that they should serve as a platform for promoting synergies and achieving greater integration of global road safety efforts.

The IRF Group of Experts

As an active and valued member of 1201 IRF Geneva, Baluja has no doubts regarding the potential of the IRF Group of Experts in terms of complementing strategies designed to close the road safety gap: “I think there is a very clear way forward for the road industry and business community. We cannot promote road safety in isolation. All the education initiatives in the world will be to no avail unless we can resolve the underlying problems in engineering and design. The developing countries need to build their own capacity, and IRF experts and members can make a decisive impact in this respect. IRF brings together cutting edge exponents covering the full range of relevant disciplines, from highway construction to ITS. We need to mobilise them to focus on conceiving new model applications specifically tailored to the mixed traffic and other conditions of developing countries. The College can then help with adaptation and ultimate promotion across the developing world, thereby showcasing not only the given company’s products but also its commitment to the UN Decade of Action. It's a win-win situation: “they share technologies which we help to convert and promote in new markets in return for help in sustaining the ongoing research of IRTE and the College of Traffic Management on a non-profit basis.”