New Delhi, Feb, 04
A national roadmap for child and adolescent road safety in India was released on Tuesday by UNICEF in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Injury Prevention and Safety at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).
“Road traffic injury is today the leading cause of death of children and adolescents, who account for 10 per cent of all road crash fatalities in the country,” the official release stated on Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Gautham Melur Sukumar, Additional Professor of Epidemiology and Head of WHO Collaborating Centre for Injury Prevention and Safety, NIMHANS, said, “Every day, nearly 45 children under 18 years of age lose their lives in road crashes in India. In 2022, 16,443 fatalities were reported in this age group, with actual numbers likely to be 20 per cent higher due to underreporting. Additionally, every year, around 5 million children suffering non-fatal injuries require hospitalisation.”
Highlighting the pressing need for child road safety measures in India, Vivek Singh, Officer-in-charge, Health, UNICEF India, said, “Nearly 50 per cent of all deaths occurred at the crash site, with head injuries being the most common, followed by injuries to the lower parts of the body.”
The report analyses existing frameworks and provides recommendations and a multi-sectoral action plan for strengthening child and adolescent road safety in India.
“The reasons for rise in crashes and fatalities among children and adolescent are beyond just unsafe roads,” said Gururaj G, Former Director of NIMHANS, at an expert panel discussion held at the report release. “Risk factors comprise of human, vehicle, road and road safety mismanagement-related factors.
Even though children and adolescents are expected to wear helmets at all two-wheeler travel times, correct helmet use among children and adolescents range is only 10 to 50 per cent in urban areas to just 2-5 per cent in rural regions. The use of Child Restraint Systems (CRS) in Indian cities is also extremely low.”
