What are the main

Road, rail and air accidents are some of the disasters that one faces every day. The rapid development and expansion of the road network for better connectivity and the increase in number of motor vehicles have led to a substantial rise in levels of both passenger and freight movement. The number of road accidents and fatalities has been growing in recent years.

In India about eighty thousand people are killed in road crashes every year which is thirteen percent of the total fatality all over the world. More than half of the people killed in traffic crashes are young people within the age group of 15-44 years who are often the bread winners of the family. In most of the cases crashes occur either due to carelessness, restlessness, overspeed, violation of traffic rules, drunken driving, poor maintenance of the vehicle, bad weather conditions etc. All these add to the rising number of accidents and road fatalities. It has been estimated that in the year 2000 more than 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was lost due to accidents. Hence, road safety education is as essential as any other basic skills of survival. The Road Safety Week is observed in January, every year throughout the country. The theme of the Road Safety Week in 2006 was ‘Road Safety and no Accident’.

The following measures should be followed to prevent or reduce the road accidents:

• Only those people who have a driving license should be allowed to drive.

• People should always walk on the foot path. If there is no foot path, they should walk on the right-hand side of the road.

• The people should cross the roads only at zebra-crossing and traffic signals should be properly followed.

• Everyone should know the meaning of the traffic signals and road boards and should follow them.

• Always wear a helmet when riding a bike as the helmet protects the head of the person in case of any accident.

• Follow a que when boarding a bus or getting down of it.

• Also, the people who have consumed alcohol or under the influence of drugs should not be allowed to drive the vehicles.