21 Jun 11: WHO has decided to monitor road traffic in the city to implement its road safety project. Hyderabad is one of the two cities in the country, which got selected by WHO for this project, as the deaths due to road accidents is listed in the top 10 causes for death.
The aim of this project is to make the city and its surrounding areas in Ranga Reddy district, safe for motorists and pedestrians by focusing on number of road safety aspects. Of the various measures being implemented by WHO, some are setting up an high class trauma care center, which will provide casualty staff with internationally recognized and accredited training packages for pre-hospital and trauma care.
In the first year, WHO will look after increasing helmet use by strengthening law enforcement, social marketing and using advocacy to increase awareness among the people regarding the issue. In the second year, data on drunken driving will be collected and necessary preventive measures will be taken.
According to WHO, one-third of the road deaths in the city are of two and three wheelers. The rate of road deaths is 16.8 deaths per one lakh population and almost half of the deaths are among motorcyclists and pedestrians.
According to WHO document on road safety in the city and other parts of the country, the reasons for road fatalities are unsafe road infrastructure, poor conditioned vehicles and heterogeneous traffic mix that includes vulnerable road users and high speed vehicles sharing the same road space.
Source: Deccan Chronicle