34% of road crash victims had no income: Study

NEW DELHI: The hospitalisation samples of road crash victims from 54 hospitals across 20 cities show that 34% of them had no income and another 28% had monthly earnings between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000. This data collected during a study to work out the socio-economic cost of road accidents for the road transport ministry has revealed how it’s the poor who are the worst impacted in road crashes.The data show that barely 3% of the crash victims had monthly earnings of more than Rs 50,000. It was also found that nearly 59% of the accident victims who were hospitalised were twowheeler riders and another 15.5% were pedestrians. Pedestrians, two-wheeler riders and cyclists are categorised as the most vulnerable road users (VRUs) across the globe considering that they hardly have any protection in case of a crash and hence there is a high chance of these road users getting killed in such incidents.Sources said about 6,600 samples were collected from 31 government and 21 private hospitals. Nearly 10.7% of the accident victims admitted in hospitals were car, SUV and taxi occupants.The study conducted by a consortium of TRIPP of IIT (Delhi) and DIMTS also collected 6,400 FIRs spanning over two years from police stations across 14 cities. It found that in 7% cases, the crashes were fatal and in 66% cases the victims were left with grievous injuries. The analysis of the FIRs also brought to light that nearly 40% victims were twowheeler riders and about 39% victims were pedestrians. The share of car, SUV and taxi occupants was around 8.8%.The age-wise distribution of data showed that about 67% of the victims were in the age bracket of 18 to 45 years, which is the most productive age group.The report submitted to the ministry, which is yet to be made public, has concluded that since more than threefourth of the road crash victims are the two-wheeler riders and pedestrians, there is an urgent need to address the vulnerability of these road users by taking measures with regard to improving enforcement, infrastructure and healthcare services.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2SoGJtP