A roadmap for safety

The controversy over two more Indian cars, the Maruti Suzuki Swift and the Datsun GO, failing the frontal crash test conducted by the Global New Car Assessment Programe (NCAP), has generated more heat than light. On the one hand, the findings of the NCAP, an umbrella body of consumer car safety testing bodies, have raised concerns in the public mind about the safety of the vehicles. On the other, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has roundly criticised the Global NCAP for “scaremongering”, arguing that the protocol followed by it was not designed for India and that the two vehicles more than meet Indian safety standards.

True, the Global NCAP’s crash test was conducted at speeds of 64 kmph against the Indian average of 56 kmph. But the oft-repeated argument by car-makers that the safety issue needs to be addressed from an Indian perspective cannot be legitimately pushed beyond a point. For instance, take the claim that the price versus benefits of airbags are questionable because of our lower average speeds. Apart from the fact that this is a line of reasoning that privileges convenience over safety, the fact that low-cost cars routinely travel at 3-digit speeds on national highways makes a mockery of it.

We have an environment in which car manufacturers are reluctant to build more safety features since such technology is very expensive. Indian consumers are also notoriously resistant to paying more for safety tech. In an environment in which we badly need comprehensive regulations that mandate minimum safety standards, it is welcome that the Centre has announced it will come up with an Indian NCAP. The quality of validation and testing facilities for crash tests currently is woefully inadequate. The setting up of NATRIP (National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project) was a start, but nearly a decade later, we still do not have a frontal offset crash test facility. Of course, in a country with nearly a quarter of a million fatalities or critical injuries from road accidents, building safe cars can only be part of the solution. A regulatory environment that focuses on car occupant safety will be skewed when more 75 per cent of all fatalities are of pedestrians and two-wheeler riders. Road traffic safety means a number of things — including better road design, improved pedestrian infrastructure, strict enforcement of speed limits and comprehensive rescue and rehabilitation systems. When vehicle density on roads is constantly increasing, it is imperative to develop a proper monitoring system to ensure that people comply with safety norms. Indian car manufactures met the frontal impact safety norms of 2003 by fitting seat-belts. But what, one may well ask, is the point of this in the absence a strict policing system that demands they be worn?

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