Fatal choices that make commute in Delhi risky

Tarun Kumar wanted to save time. The 27-year-old was on his way to his friend’s house, just about 2km away from his in Krishna Nagar in east Delhi. He decided against wearing a helmet for the short trip.

“That was the biggest mistake of my life,” said the bike-taxi rider.

Kumar was barrelling down an arterial road to Swasthya Vihar when a speeding car rammed into his bike head-on. He sustained multiple injuries, including fractured legs and a head injury.

The bones took two months to heal and the head injury took about six. Kumar, bedridden, lost out on six months of pay and was barely able to make ends meet.

“I couldn’t ride for six months till I recovered completely,” he said.

Riding without a helmet and driving without a seatbelt are among the most frequent traffic offences in the national capital.

According to the Delhi Road Crash Report 2022, two-wheeler riders are the second-highest victims in road crashes, after pedestrians. The report mentions that 539 two-wheeler riders died in 2022, up from 459 in 2021. In most cases, these two-wheelers were hit by heavy vehicles, followed by four-wheelers.

Experts and police officers said awareness drives and much stricter prosecution were key to stem what seems to be an incessant problem for Delhi.

Safety thrown to the wind

Given the significant number of two-wheelers registered in Delhi, ensuring a safe design system becomes crucial for the well-being of these riders. One of the most critical factors influencing the safety of two-wheeler riders is helmet usage, mandatory for riders and pillion riders in Delhi.

However, the data is unforgiving.

According to Delhi traffic police data, cases of helmet-less riding keep increasing every year. Till April 15 this year, police have issued 20,822 fines for driving without a seatbelt or riding a two-wheeler without a helmet.

In 2023, 572,866 fines were issued for not wearing a helmet, a 250% increase compared to 212,440 the previous year.

“The traffic police’s enforcement is very strict, besides the awareness drives held by its road safety education cell. Yet, a lot of people wear helmets only due to the fear of prosecution and not for their safety,” says the report by traffic police.

Quality control?

Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act 1988 makes it mandatory for every two-wheeler rider, including the pillion rider, to properly wear a quality BIS-approved helmet. Section 194D of the Act says that riders violating this provision may be fined up to ₹1,000 or be disqualified from holding a license for three months.

Traffic police officers and experts said that the helmet’s design and quality, and how it is worn are also key.

The Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit collaborated with Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) to conduct a biannual roadside observations and monitor compliance for important road safety risk factors in Delhi in 2022 and found that clasped helmet use was very low in Delhi. A sample size of 206,000 individuals consisting of both the motorcycle riders and pillion riders were observed.

The study found that overall, 87% of all motorcycle riders and drivers in Delhi wore helmets, but only 66% had them clasped. Specifically among motorcycle drivers, overall helmet use was 92% while “correct” helmet use was 71%. For passengers, overall helmet use was 69%, while correct helmet use was low at 46%. The study also found that correct helmet use is substantially higher among males at 71%, compared to females at 53%.

A similar problem with seatbelts

As a rule, all people in a four-wheeler are required to wear seatbelts when the vehicle is moving. Following the unexpected death of industrialist Cyrus Mistry in a road accident in September 2022, the government also emphasised the importance of rear seatbelts in cars. However, traffic police said that commuters barely take this rule seriously, especially after sundown.

Kunal Malhotra, a 35-year-old resident of Tilak Nagar in west Delhi, recalled an accident in 2022. His wife, Kritika, and him were on the Delhi-Noida-Expressway.

“There was no traffic so we were speeding. And since it was late, she didn’t wear the seatbelt. I saw a dog crossing the road, and slammed the brakes and turned right to save. My wife got flung out of her seat and hit the windshield. She suffered injuries on the head, chest and ribs,” Malhotra recalled.

Driving without fastening a seatbelt is a punishable offence under Section 138(3) of Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989. According to CMVR, mandatory wearing of rear seat belts was notified in 2004 and came into force in 2005. As per sub-section 1 of Section 194 of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, a fine of ₹1,000 is imposed on drivers driving without wearing a seat belt or carrying passengers not wearing a safety belt. However, many car users tend to violate this law. Occupants sitting in rear seats, in fact, are rarely seen using seat belts, despite a large number of prosecutions by the traffic police.

In 2023, 43,677 people were prosecuted by Delhi traffic police for driving without seat-belt, as against 54,441 in 2022 and 45,907 in 2021.

The study by John Hopkins and CRRI in 2022 also looked at seat belt usage in Delhi. It found that, in a sample size of 171,886, only 65% of all motor vehicle occupants used seatbelts. When divided into occupant type, 85% of drivers wore seatbelts, while only 41% of passengers wore seat belts. The report added that though front seat passengers had a much higher proportion of seat-belt wearing at 74%), just 1% of rear seat passengers used seatbelts in Delhi.

Another bane: Cellphones

The ever-growing trend of people using cellphones while driving has now become one of the largest triggers for accidents on Delhi’s streets, said traffic police officers and experts. Still this number has dipped, on the back of a series of clamdowns. In 2021, traffic police prosecuted 26,176 people for using mobile phones while driving, which reduced to 25,820 in 2022 and further to 18390 in 2023.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2022 Road Traffic Injuries Report, drivers using mobile phones are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers not using a mobile phone. Using a phone while driving slows reaction times, notably braking reaction time, but also reaction to traffic signals, and makes it difficult to keep in the correct lane, and to keep the correct following distances. The report adds that hands-free phones are not much safer than hand-held phone sets and texting considerably increases the risk of a crash.

No skin-deep solves: Experts

Special commissioner of police (traffic) HGS Dhaliwal said that while traffic rules are crucial, they can’t be the sole solution to reducing accidents.

“Poor road conditions, insufficient signage, and a deficiency of pedestrian amenities all lead to accidents. These infrastructure problems need to be addressed to improve road safety,” he said.

Talking about the challenges, the special commissioner said that while enforcement is of utmost importance, it’s not always easy to catch every violator. “Limited resources, and challenges in monitoring vast road networks can hinder effective enforcement,” he said.

Experts, meanwhile, said that monitoring compliance with road safety risk factors and establishing a city-wide surveillance program are crucial to promulgate evidence-based interventions.

“A mistaken belief that they are a ‘good and safe’ rider and that they won’t be involved in a collision often deters a motorcyclist from wearing a helmet. Riders also try to get away with wearing a helmet citing hot weather. Inadequate enforcement and misinformation around the role of helmets in reducing injuries also impacts helmet-use greatly. Affordable standard and appropriate helmets should be made available to encourage helmet use,” said Michael Phyland, Senior Road Policing Advisor, Global Road Safety Partnership, a partner under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety.

He added that there is a serious risk of the helmet coming off before or during the impact during a crash, which makes it important to highlight the need to not just place the helmet on the head, but to also clasp it.

“Without a properly clasped helmet, the likelihood of a fatal crash occurring or life changing permanent brain injury increases greatly. Studies have shown that crash helmets decrease the likelihood of death by up to 40% and reduction to risk of serious injury by 70%. Increased targeted enforcement together with public awareness campaigns have in many jurisdictions proven to be most effective in positively changing rider behaviour and increasing compliance to properly wear and fasten helmets,” he added.

When it comes to seat belt usage, just awareness campaigns are not sufficient as the sense of safety in a car is higher, said experts.

“Improving seat belt use in Delhi would require a systematic approach. First, strengthening the enforcement for proper seat belt use and age-appropriate restraint use is required. Second, financial schemes for purchasing child restraints could also be effective. Third, targeted awareness and education can significantly help improve seatbelt use in Delhi,” said Nishit Patel, research associate, Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit.