New Delhi: A study carried out by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) of 1,514 road signs over 85 kilometres in NCR has revealed that they are a sure recipe for disaster. IRTE is a non-profit research organisation, formed in 1991 for supporting the government in capacity building towards the development of a safe and efficient traffic management system.
IRTE along with School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) conducted the study titled “Resolving the Crisis of Traffic Management”. The study has revealed alarming and shocking facts related to road infrastructure including traffic lights, signs and marking.
They conducted a study of 1,514 road signs over 85 kilometres in NCR and found that more than 70% of road signs had design flaws and were installed at wrong places. It said out of the 1,514 regulatory, warning and information signs on the surveyed roads; at least 1,098 or 75 per cent did not meet legal standards.
Regulatory signs such as "stop" warnings have to be followed, while warning signs are used to alert drivers of potential dangers ahead. Information signs provide details about distance and landmarks.
Depending on the category, these signs differ in shape, size and colour. But in Delhi, they have been interchangeably used, which often misled people, the study said.
IRTE has slammed all stakeholders for the crisis. A statement released by IRTE president Dr Rohit Baluja said, “Many accidents that occurred in recent times could have been averted if the road signage were up to the mark. For example, many road signages in Delhi are found circled with red in a blue board, which is disastrous. Red circle means prohibition, while blue means information.”
“There is a lack of coordination in Delhi and NCR among the departments responsible for traffic and transport. Some agency manages traffic while some other places signage, and parking is in a different agency's hands. So this lack of coordination leads to faulty signboards, which are very important in averting accidents," he added.
The SPA official also on the other hand said there is need for a dedicated road transport institute to cater to such problems. Road and transport has become an integral part of every human being. Everybody is a road user in one shape or the other. Although, the present transport system has minimized the distances but it has on the other hand increased the life risk.
India alone accounts for highest number of road deaths in the world, and it is signatory to UN decade of Action for reducing road accident deaths by 50 % by the year 2020.
According to Delhi traffic police last survey; death rate rising to 400 per day i.e. one life snuffed out every 3.6 minutes. Every year road crashes result in loss of lakhs of lives and serious injuries to crores of people and in India itself about eighty thousand people are killed in road crashes every year which is thirteen percent of the total fatality all over the world.
Out of them, many of the cases occurs either due to lack of road safety awarenessof the road user or due to fact that sometimes the one who is behind the wheels take road signs for granted. Many accidents in recent times could have been averted if the road signage was up to the mark