UNICEF releases national roadmap for child road safety

"Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) is today the leading cause of death of children and adolescents, who account for 10 percent 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 age lose their lives in road crashes in India. In 2022, 16,443 fatalities were reported in this age group, with actual numbers likely 20 percent higher due to underreporting. Additionally, every year around 5 million children suffering non-fatal injuries require hospitalization."

Highlighting the pressing need for child road safety measures in India, Vivek Singh - Officer-in-charge Health, UNICEF India, said, "Children are vulnerable to severe injuries owing to their physical, developmental and physiological attributes. Nearly 50 percent 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. Given the huge increase in road crash fatalities among children, UNICEF has stepped in to ensure safer mobility for them."

Further, the report reviews the current situation of child and adolescent road safety in India through secondary data sources and expert consultation.

It describes the burden, risks and determinants of child and adolescent road traffic fatalities in India, analyzes existing frameworks, and provides recommendations and a multi-sectoral action plan for strengthening child and adolescent road safety in India.

The findings reveal that between 2011 and 2022, an estimated 198,236 road fatalities occurred among children and adolescents, and nearly 75 percent of those road fatalities occurred in the 14-17 years age group. Furthermore, the number of fatalities of this group more than doubled between 2011 and 2022.

"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 wear helmets at all two-wheeler travel times, correct helmet use among children and adolescents ranges is only 10-50 percent in urban areas to just 2-5 percent in rural regions. Child Restraint Systems (CRS) use in Indian cities is also extremely low."

According to the release, more than half of the top 25 safety-rated cars in India had a child-occupant safety rating of 3 stars or less. Apart from these direct factors, there are larger socio-economic influences that predispose children for road crashes. As over half the children in India walk to school, ensuring pedestrian safety is critical. Nearly one-third of all child pedestrian fatalities occurred at traffic intersections.

As per Zoya Ali Rizvi, Deputy Commissioner, Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Government of India, children and adolescents involved in road crashes often sustain severe injuries which makes access to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) critical for survival. Though efforts are ongoing to establish trauma care centres along highways and to strengthen accident and emergency care in district hospitals, a recent study by AIIMS Delhi showed that only 20 percent of large government hospitals have paediatric ICU facilities in India.

Pratima Murthy, Director NIMHANS informed that 'NIMHANS has continued to provide technical and advocacy support for injury prevention in general and traumatic brain injuries in specific.

Apart from preventive and promotive efforts, there is a need for state of the art polytrauma centres capable of handling adult and paediatric road crash injuries, one for every 3-5 districts. This would support the referrals from trauma care centres and emergency departments from district hospitals. NIMHANS is also planning to set up a polytrauma center in the North of Bengaluru, which will be a state-of-art Level 1 trauma centre.'.

The report as well as the panel of experts at the event noted several challenges include a lack of fully functional road safety boards, limited budget, deficient data systems, lack of inter-sectoral coordination and institutional mechanisms, and shared key recommendations on road safety management, vehicular rules, school road safety as well as post-crash care for uptake by the government, stakeholders and public at large. A multi-sectoral action plan has been developed for coordinating activities by different stakeholders. (ANI)