The Hindu Business Line : `Safety standards should be uniform for all cars'

The economic cost of road crashes in India is 2-3 per cent of GDP. It is less than one per cent for high-income, developed countries, where the number of vehicles per 1,000 population is much higher. By 2020, deaths in India due to road accidents are expected to increase by 147 per cent. In many developed countries the fatality rates are declining.

These are alarming statistics and certainly should awaken officials and organisations involved in road safety in India, feels Ms Jeya Padmanaban, auto safety expert and president of JP Research Inc., California.

JP Research is a statistical and database consulting firm founded in 1995 by Ms Jeya Padmanaban. She is an expert in the area of real-world performance and safety studies, particularly motor vehicle and consumer product safety.

Ms Padmanaban was in India to highlight the urgent need for better safety standards and an improved regulatory framework for monitoring and enforcing better safety on the roads in the country.

Excerpts from a tête-à-tête with Bikes `N' Cars:

What kind of a roadmap do you think India can adopt regarding road safety? Which categories of road users will have to be targeted most to bring down the current high rate of fatalities on Indian roads?

I think we have to start with law enforcement, emphasising on traffic rules (stop at red lights, pedestrians crossing on designated areas, etc.) and proper driver licensing procedures. There should be public awareness campaigns from consumer groups and law-enforcement agencies about the benefits of wearing seat belts and helmets. At present, pedestrians in urban areas and drivers in rural areas and highways have to be targeted first. It would be a big help to have insurance companies provide incentives for good driving behaviour.

Given our relative inability to ensure effective monitoring and compliance, is increased activism and interference by the courts the more viable option for speeding up the enforcement of newer safety standards?

I am not quite familiar with the legal system in India. However, in the US, the federal government mandates the safety standards and local governments (state highway departments) implement the traffic and seatbelt laws. There is an organisation in the US called the National Safety Council, which provides standard definitions for traffic accidents and injury severity.

All these procedures are made into law by the Congress, which includes amongst its members representatives from all the states. In short, the courts do not interfere with the congressional mandate.

The Indian market for automobiles is extremely price sensitive. Most new safety technologies are expensive, especially in the initial stages when adoption is still low. Is this unique to developing markets such as India?

Not really. Even in the US, some safety technologies such as side airbags/ESC (electronic stability control), anti-lock braking systems and laminated glass side windows were expensive at initial stages and even now, some of them are available only in luxury cars. However, there are safety features such as seat belts and airbags that are standard equipment in every US vehicle.

Data show that belts are the most important countermeasure for mitigating injury and ejection in the event of a collision. The other safety technologies can be implemented at a slower pace until they become less expensive and more affordable to the middle-class.

What is your opinion on safety standards for the new entry-level car segment in the Rs 1-2 lakh price bracket? Should safety standards be uniform for all four-wheel passenger vehicles?

Yes. The safety standards should be uniform for all four-wheel passenger vehicles. In the US, the prices for passenger vehicles range from $6,000 to $1,50,000. However, all vehicles have to pass the basic safety standards established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The standards address the crashworthiness of vehicles in frontal, side, rear impacts and rollover crashes. In addition, there are several standards for vehicle components (seat belts/airbags/brakes/steering assembly, etc.) that all manufacturers have to meet for all their car lines.

With the base of passenger vehicles on the road ballooning and reaching a critical mass, is this the right time for the Government to look at a centralised road safety body on the lines of the NHTSA?

Yes, absolutely. NHTSA is one of the primary reasons for the decline of fatality rates in the US. NHTSA's mission is to improve road safety through research, enforcement, assessment and establishment of safety standards and vehicle testing. It is good to have a watchdog organisation that conveys a consistent and continuous message on saving lives.

It also helps to have a federal agency accountable for checking on the quality of vehicles/vehicle components that are introduced into the US fleet. By conducting defect investigations and recalls, NHTSA monitors the quality of products entering the US market.

S. Muralidhar

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