AAAAAAAAA METHODOLOGY CRASH SCENE AND VEHICLE EXAMINATION

DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Type of Road User 32 accidents examined in 45 days. Night time accidents highest. 75km stretch of NH45. Heavy truck involvement highest. Time of Day 18 accidents involving heavy trucks. 22 of the 25 trucks examined. Front-Rear collisions serious in numbers and injury severity.

FRONT-REAR COLLISIONS 2-vehicle accident in which one vehicle strikes the other from the rear. “Following” vehicle“Leading” vehicle Pre-accident condition of “leading” vehicle “Leading” vehicles suffer minor or no injuries. “Following” vehicle usually sustain severe injuries. Smaller the “following” vehicle, greater is the severity. Pre-accident condition of “leading” vehicle initiates this collision.

INFRASTRUCTURE ANALYSIS Truck lay-bys lack facilities. Insufficient shoulder widths for the trucks.

TRUCKS AND DRIVERS Average Age (Truckers) 34.2 years Average Age (Helpers) 24.3 years Literacy Rate 96.1 % Basic Qualification Required 8 th Standard Average Monthly Income (Truckers) Rs. 3,720 Average Monthly Income (Helpers) Rs. 2,220 Average Number of nights spent away from home per month 17.1 Poor reflective devices Lack of RUP Poor tyres Poor training. Poor working conditions. Poor training. Poor working conditions. More efforts and understanding required to educate, train & encourage truck drivers to drive safely on highways. Non-functioning Tail Lamps Non-functioning Tail Lamps

TRUCK FATALITIES & NATIONAL HIGHWAYS NATIONAL HIGHWAYS – 2% of Indian road network – 65% freight traffic – 40% fatalities YearTruck/Lorry Fatalities (All India) % of Total Fatalities (All India) Total Fatalities (All India) , , , ,05, , ,14,590 State-wise %age truck fatalities. Bars in red indicate truck fatalities as highest in that State. With around km being 4-laned under the NHDP project, should not truck accidents be a cause for national concern?

THE URGENT NEED FOR IN-DEPTH TRUCK ACCIDENT DATA COLLECTION ON NATIONAL HIGHWAYS