Impacts of Road Accidents

 IMPACTS OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

"More people die of road accidents than by most diseases, so much so the Indian highways are among the top killers of the country." - Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer

Road safety is a shared responsibility 

The impacts of traffic accidents are listed below:

• Traffic accidents have a devastating human toll and the economic impact of road crashes is enormous
• The impact of road accidents on individual, family and society in terms of morbidity, disability, economic and social fall-out, is immense and remains unrecognized
• The economic impact of injuries is huge and is estimated to cost approximately 5% of the GDP, with injuries due to road crashes alone accounting for 3 % of the GDP 
•  The mental and emotional injuries after a car accident include
•  mental anguish
• emotional distres
• fear
• anger
• humiliation
• anxiety
• shock
• embarrassment
• random episodes of crying
• loss of appetite
• weight fluctuations
• lack of energy
• sexual dysfunction
• mood swings and
• sleep disturbances.
•  93% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries, who have approximately 60% of the world's vehicles.
• Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years.

Types of incidents

 TYPES OF INCIDENTS

The various types of traffic accidents that can happen anytime on the road are:

• Traffic accidents occur when a vehicle collides with another vehicle. They are are caused by:
• Obstruction
• Pedestrian
• Crossing
• Lingering animal
• Stationary object such as tree or utility pole
• Common types of traffic accidents are 
• vehicle rear end collisions
• side impact collisions
• vehicle rollover
• sideswipe collisions
• head-on collisions
• single car accidents and
• multiple vehicle pile-ups

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• REAR-END COLLISION

A rear end collision occurs when one car hits the rear of the car in front of it. A rear end collision usually happens when the vehicle ahead suddenly decelerates or when the vehicle behind suddenly accelerates.In this case, injuries to the passengers of the impacted vehicle are greater than those of the passengers of the impacting vehicle

• SIDE IMPACT COLLISION

Side impact collisions occur when the side of a vehicle is hit by the front or rear of another vehicle. Side impact collisions result in more severe injuries and vehicle damage. Injuries and damage depend on the safety features of the vehicle like:

• air bags
• crumple zones
• vehicle construction and
• materials used
  

• VEHICLE ROLLOVER

A vehicle rollover occurs when a vehicle flips over its side or roof. This usually happens when the vehicle makes a high speed sharp turn. Tall vehicles such as SUV's (Sport Utility Vehicle) are usually susceptible to a roll over accident since they have a high center of gravity

• SIDESWIPE COLLISION

Sideswipe collisions are collisions involving adjacent sides of two vehicles. Sideswipe collisions often result in only cosmetic damage

• HEAD-ON COLLISION

Head-on collisions are considered very fatal especially when the collision involves two vehicles traveling at very high speed.

• SINGLE CAR ACCIDENTS

A single car accident is a kind of accident involving only one vehicle. For example:

• driver losing vehicle control due to drowsiness
• driver falling asleep
• occurrence of brake malfunction
  

• MULTIPLE VEHICLE PILE-UPS

A multiple vehicle pile-up is an accident involving many vehicles and usually happens on highways. This is one of the deadliest traffic accidents since some vehicles are hit not once but multiple times from different directions. Cars may spin during a pile-up accident increasing the risk of serious injuries and loss of life to passengers. Escaping from the vehicle is not an option as there is a risk of being hit by upcoming vehicles. It is difficult to determine the cause of multiploe vehicle collisions.

Characteristics of traffic incidents

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAFFIC INCIDENTS

• Accidents occur not only due to ignorance but also due to carelessness, thoughtlessness and over confidence
• Human, vehicular and environmental factors play role before, during and after a road traffic accidents (RTA)
• Road traffic injuries are partially predictable and hence preventable
• Strict traffic laws and penalties have to be imposed to curb this growing menace.
• The main causes of accidents to speeding, driver negligence and violation of traffic regulations. Majority of these accidents occur in urban areas and sometimes, the casualties involve pedestrians
• The high rate of population growth, 
• large percentage of young drivers
• dramatic and uncontrolled increase in the number of vehicles over recent years coupled with
  
• absence of strict law enforcement and
• poor road conditions have all contributed to the high accident rates. 

• Primarily, drivers have been the main cause of accidents in terms of negligence, high speed and poor driving
• Poor driving reflects carelessly changing lanes or making turns without signaling
• Negligence includes eating, talking to a rider or on phone or playing with radio, etc while driving
• However, vehicle age, mechanical defects, tyre failures do have impact on safety. 
• High speeds and pedestrians remain to be the main contributors to road traffic accidents
• Some of the typical characteristics of road traffic accidents are listed
• Age of the driver
• Gender of the driver
• Driver history
• Time of occurrence of accident
• Condition of vehicle
• Condition of the road
• Weather conditions
• Visibility / lighting
• Type of vehicles involved in the accident
• Speed of the vehicle
• Consumption of alcohol and drugs
• Educational level plays an important characteristic in road traffic accidents in that with increasing educational level a driver becomes attached to safer driving techniques

Introduction to Incident management in Road Accidents

INTRODUCTION TO INCIDENT MANAGEMENT IN ROAD ACCIDENTS

• Incident management is a coordinated and planned approach for responding to incidents when they occur on highway systems. It involves the systematic use of human and mechanical processes for detecting, responding to and clearing incidents.
• Effective traffic incident management reduces the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and improves the safety of motorists, crash victims and emergency responders.
• Agencies typically responding to highway incidents include:
  • Police
  • Fire
  • Towing and recovery
  • Emergency medical service (EMS)
  • Hazardous material
  • Transportation agencies
  • Media
• An “incident” is defined as any non-recurring event that causes a reduction of roadway capacity or an abnormal increase in demand. Such events include traffic crashes, disabled vehicles, spilled cargo, highway maintenance and reconstruction projects, and special non-emergency events (e.g., ball games, concerts, or any other event that significantly affects roadway operations). 
• All the functions (seven activities) that together comprise the process of incident management is as follows:

1. Detection
2. Verification
3. Motorist Information
4. Response
5. Site Management
6. Traffic Management and
7. Clearance

Traffic Incident Management (TIM) is a planned and coordinated program process to 

• detect, 
• respond to, and remove traffic incidents and
• restore traffic capacity as safely and quickly as possible.  

Effective TIM reduces the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and improves the safety of motorists, crash victims and emergency responders. 

 

The National Highways Authority of India is in the process of rolling-out an integrated setup through the Traffic Incident Emergency Management System (TIMS). Under TIMS:

• Incident Management Contractors to be appointed at state/regional office level for providing ambulances, tow-away cranes and highway surveillance vehicles across all highways in the state/region
• Regional Command and Control Centre for monitoring and operations, in the States of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh on a pilot basis.
• In each of the pilot states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, tentatively 100 - 110 additional ambulances are planned to be provided through the Incident Management service contractor.
• On successful implementation in these two states, the program will then be scaled up to a national level.
  

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to introduce a robust system to promptly detect accidents and any incidents such as traffic jams or breakdown of vehicles across its stretches.

• To begin with, the incident management system will cover nearly 11,000 km in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• These stretches will have adequate deployment of ambulances, surveillance vehicles, tow-away cranes at regular intervals.
• All these will be mapped, connected and controlled by an IT-based regional command centre for real- time detection of incidents and quick response.
  

The operators of TIM services would provide

• Two patient capacity’ ambulance at every 40 - 45 km or a ‘four patient capacity ambulance’ at every 100 km
• 24X7 surveillance vehicles. Surveillance vehicles to cover the assigned stretch at least once every four hours. The in-charge of these vehicles to inform about any incident to the regional centre and police.
• They would provide mechanical assistance in case of vehicle breakdowns and basic mechanical repairs, provide fuel and water to stranded motorists enabling them to reach the closest fuel station.
• Operators will be required to put overhead electronic display to alert users about traffic status on the stretch and other information.
  

Cost of road accidents

COST OF ROAD ACCIDENTS

With the fast growth of traffic, the road accident rate in India is increasing at an alarming rate. 

Road accidents cause huge economic loss to society by way of

•  loss of output by fatal and injured victims
• expenses incurred in medical treatment
• administrative costs of police
• insurance companies and accident claims tribunals and
• damages to vehicles and property. 

Apart from these tangible components, intangible costs such as 

• pain
• grief and 
• suffering are also caused. 

An accurate understanding of the monetary costs of accidents of various types helps transportation planners and economists to account for this component of road user cost while undertaking an economic appraisal of highway schemes. 

In view of the urgent data gap in the country on accident costs, the Central Road Research Institute took up a limited investigation into this subject as a part of the road user cost study.

A study by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways found that average socioeconomic cost of every death due to a road accident in 2018 in the country was roughly ₹91 lakh. And as for every victim that sustained grievous injuries in road accidents in India, the cost is about ₹3.6 lakh.

The study offered three different estimates of the socioeconomic impact under three scenarios. The third estimate, which is based on the Global Burden of Disease (GDB) Study, pegs the socioeconomic impact at about ₹8.63 lakh crore.

The estimates are said to include medical expenses; loss of income due to lost output cost; pain, grief, and suffering; damage to vehicle; public asset; and administrative costs .

 

COST OF ROAD ACCIDENTS
Two main approaches are used to estimate the cost of road accidents. They are:

• Human capital (HC) approach which is based on Gross-loss-of-output methodology and
• Willingness To Pay (WTP) approach
  

The cost values obtained are updated using inflation rates. The results indicate an estimated cost of road traffic accidents. Cost estimation helps determine the economic benefit arising from preventing accidents. 

This is done through a cost-benefit-analysis that guides policy makers especially in developing countries. The above listed techniques are widely used to estimate the cost of traffic accidents. Countries such as USA, UK, Newzealand and sweeden use the WTP approach to estimate the costs while the HC approach is used by the following countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Vietnam, Portugal, Japan, Austria and many more. 

Among different variations of the HC approach, the gross loss-of-output is the easiest and most frequently used. It calculates the cost as the present value of the expected earnings that could have been achieved by the injured or the deceased person if not experienced the accident. This is done by estimating the average costs of a fatality, an injury and a damaged vehicle. These averages are then multiplied by the corresponding totals and added together with other cost components to find the  total cost of road traffic accident. Estimating the cost of road accidents requires a lot of data requiring a number of surveys  along with continuous data quality improvement.

Noise and energy impacts due to road traffic

NOISE AND ENERGY IMPACTS DUE TO ROAD TRAFFIC

NOISE DUE TO ROAD TRAFFIC

• According to the World Health Organization, traffic noise is associated with 

• sleep problems
• tiredness
• headaches
• high blood pressure
• hormonal effects
• stress and
• increased risk of heart disease. 

• It is this long-term impact on heart disease that leads to premature death.
• Communicating the impact of traffic noise to the community and other stakeholders has traditionally been difficult
• Road Agencies need to work with Planning Authorities to minimize the impact of traffic noise on the community through compatible zoning interfaces and by appropriate urban and site design that locates noise sensitive land uses such as homes and schools well away from busy roads.
• Road Agencies can increase the buffer area between the road and the community. Increasing the distance from the road from 20m to 100m can reduce noise by up to 7 dB.
• Designing road projects to increase the ability of the intervening ground to absorb sound, constructing earth mounds, having loose soil and protective vegetation can scatter the sound waves and absorb the noise levels.
• Design the road to minimize the road gradient or design new roads in cuttings or tunnels.
• Design the pavements to include quieter low noise pavements.
• Utilize ITS technologies to smooth traffic flows to avoid noise of constant starting and braking.
• Maintain road in good working order to minimize noise due to potholes, loose service covers, raveling of asphalt or uneven seal and expansion joints.
• Work with regulators to support mandatory use of low noise tyres.
• Install noise barriers and/or upgrading of homes to limit noise transmission - provide "silent" façades.
• Work with building regulators to improve existing housing stock near noisy roads to block sound transmission and provide "quiet" areas particularly for sleeping; and to require new housing stock to be designed such that the building fabric reduces noise entry and building layout is such that noise sensitive areas are located away from the road.
  

ENERGY IMPACT DUE TO ROAD TRAFFIC

• In a developing country like India, increased economic activity leads to growing income per capita. With rising standard of living, the demand for personal transportation increases.
• From the point of view of energy supply, uncertainty about the present and future availability and security of oil supplies, the prospect of rising oil prices and environmental concerns about emissions are the major challenges.
• Transport and energy are closely related
• Energy is a crucial constraint on transport and transport is a major determinant of energy demand
• India is increasingly dependent on imported petroleum
• In the transport sector, oil is extensively used in the road sector where  energy-inefficient designs, poor vehicle maintenance and low-grade roads are prevalant
• Energy consumption from trucks is expected to rise rapidly
• EcoTransit website is a practical tool used by freight services and decision makers to compare the environmental impacts of different options
• The calculation of energy consumption with emission data of a worldwide transport chain can be done quickly with the help of EcoTransIT World
• Other quantitative analyses used are:
• WTW index (Wheel To Wheel)
• WTT sub-index (Wheel To Tank)
• TTW sub-index (Tank To Wheel)
  

Air quality due to road traffic

 AIR QUALITY DUE TO TRAFFIC

• Road transport accounts for a significant portion of air pollution in cities and towns, causing serious pollution problems like carbon monoxide and smog. 
• The main reason being the increase in the use of private vehicles.
• Road traffic pollution is a major threat to clean air 
• Traffic fumes contain harmful chemicals that pollute the atmosphere. 
• Road traffic emissions produce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
• Studies have shown excess morbidity and mortality for drivers, commuters and individuals living near major roadways. 
• Traffic is an important reason for fluctuating air quality with increasing traffic density resulting in increased air pollution .
• Transportation has directly enhanced the level of pollutant gases such as Carbon dioxide, Oxides of Nitrogen, Carbon monoxide and particulate matter
• Increasing concentration of these pollutants has caused not only health effects like cough, breathlessness and asthma but also contributed significantly to global warming
• Pollutants like particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), poly-aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), trace elements, etc., are also present in the urban air and their levels are on the rise because of vehicular pollution thus disturbing the human health.
• Several studies suggest an association between automobile exhaust and increased respiratory symptoms. 
• Particulate matter (PM) is a complex mixture of chemical agents of different shape and sizes. Studies reveal that the effect of PM on human health will depend on the chemical composition of PM, besides its number and mass concentration. At elevated levels, both the categories may increase mortality and morbidity of human population. 
• The effect of SO2 on ecosystem and human health is well recognized. At significant levels, SO2 can contribute to respiratory illness, particularly for children and elderly people and intensify existing heart and lung diseases.
• Long term exposure of SO2, CO, PM and NOX cause exacerbation of asthma, cancers, particularly lymphomas, leukemia and brain cancer. 
• To control vehicle emission, regular check-up for fitness of vehicle and upgradation of fuel quality alongwith tightening of vehicle emission norms should be adopted.  
• Public transport system must be improved and grossly polluting commercial vehicles should be phased out. 
• Encouraging car pool as well as reduction in value of Vehicle Kilometer Travel (VKT) also reduced the emission profile of vehicle.
• Within the transport sector, road transport is the largest contributor to global warming