Nissan Safety Driving Forum (NSDF): Upping India’s Road Safety Quotient

Okay, readers who stop here off and on know that I stay away from posting personal posts on the blog and also try and stay pretty much matter-of-fact when I have to write about some personal experience from my travels. I am making an exception today, thanks to the cover photo you see above. It’s one of the banners from the Nissan Safety Driving Forum’s campaign. Before I go deep into why this banner makes this post personal, here’s some detail about the NSDF.

About Nissan Safety Driving Forum

The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., conducts the Nissan Safety Driving Forum (NSDF) in India as part of its safety driving promotion activities. The program began as an annual activity in 2012. In its initial phase it covered three main Indian cities – New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai – and since then has gradually expanded to several additional cities across India. This year, NSDF would reach 8 new cities – Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Vadodara, Nagpur, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi. In addition to sensitisation of wearing seatbelts, NSDF also conducts live simulated experiences to understand how safety features function through a simulated car crash. A 360-degree turn over highlights the use of seatbelts, while sessions on road safety emphasises on road etiquette to stay safe.

Under its Blue Citizenship CSR umbrella, NSDF works to build awareness of safe driving in India, and indeed it is doing an exemplary job in building awareness about safe driving and encouraging drivers to wear seatbelts. Now this is where the personal angle comes in. I only wish the NSDF came up with this commendable campaign a few years ago, for it would have saved a dear friend few severely broken bones and many a painful surgeries. If only he remembered that ‘Your life is in your hands’, he would not have sat smug behind the wheel, driving down the busy highway in a drowsy state, without wearing the seatbelt, indifferent to it’s importance.

While navigating a relatively deserted section of the highway, drowsiness got the better of him and he lost control over the car, ramming it into a tree on the side of the road. The impact was powerful, leaving him with many a broken bones, besides gruesome external injuries. It took several operations and seemingly endless sessions of physiotherapy to put him back on his two feet again. He’s doing much better today, but the trauma of that fateful day still lingers on.

Some Hard Facts

India holds the dubious distinction of having the highest number of road traffic accidents in the world. The recent WHO Global Safety Report 2013 states that India has a high fatality rate on roads, losing 100,000 lives to road crashes every year (139,091 in the year 2012), with a fatality rate of 10.83 deaths per 100,000 population (World Road Statistics data, 2011). The numbers have only increased since 2011 and a look at the following numbers will elaborate the gravity of the situation.

• There is one recorded road traffic accident death every five minutes. The number may be more as many deaths in the rural areas of the country are not recorded accurately.
• Approximately 700,000 people are seriously injured with major disabilities which require prolonged hospitalisation and surgery. Many of them are permanently disabled and have to alter their lifestyle. 
• 85% of the victims of these fatalities are men in the age group 20-50 years. The majority of these men are the breadwinners for their families.
• Government statistics show that in the last couple of decades, the number of road accidents has increased by 4.4 times, accompanied by a 9.8 times increase in fatality and 7.3 times increase in the number of persons injured.

Statistics Courtesy: SICOT E-newsletter


Given the sad and depressing statistics, high time we realise that road safety measures not just save our lives, but also help keep fellow motorists out of trouble (unless they too default on some safety rule). While the NSDF is helping spread awareness about the importance of seatbelts and highlighting the benefits of safety technologies, the onus is also on us to adhere to the general driving etiquette, so that driving is not just a pleasant experience for us, but also for others on the road. To this effect, sticking to the following measures too will ensure a hassle free driving experience –

1. Uniform Road Safety Rules –
Standardization of road safety rules and regulations across the country will ensure that every citizen is aware of them and follows them. In such scenario, in the event of some negligence on the road, one cannot hide behind excuses about traffic and safety rules being different in different parts of the country.

2. Strict Enforcement of Traffic Rules –
Inefficient law enforcement is another roadblock in the way of road safety. Wish the administration puts up stern steps in place to curb drunk driving incidents, and takes even the slightest of traffic offence seriously. 

3. Compulsory Road Safety Education –
Road Safety Education should be made compulsory in schools – both private and public. If we get the basics of traffic and road safety rules taught to kids right from school, they are sure to retain and practice that knowledge. In fact the children can in turn inspire the elders in their homes aware about the importance of following traffic rules.

3. Minimum Qualification for Professional Drivers-
Many of the grave accidents are result of rash driving and other negligence on part of professional drivers, i.e, those who drive professionally, and in India, more often that not, these drivers are either plain illiterate or with very basic education. Many a times, these drivers are not technically trained enough to handle a difficult situation on the road. So for just their sake, but also for the sake of those on the road alongside such drivers, it’s important that the transport authorities put down a minimum qualification requirement for professional drivers. 

4.  Strict Rules and Regulation for Driving License –
Time and again we keep seeing sting operations that expose how driving licenses in India are made. One might not know the difference between a clutch and a break and still flaunt a driving license. In fact if we are honest enough to admit, many in our families too have procured driving licenses without knowing the ABCs of driving. High time authorities put a brake on that. For our own sake.

5. Steep Penalty for Traffic Rules Violaters-
You don’t wear your seatbelt, pay a fine of 100-200 bucks and are free to do as you will. For many people who ride two-wheelers, helmet is nuisance that mars the look of their hairstyle and so they avoid it like plague. There are several such everyday examples where we steer clear of following traffic rules and scoff them off. A steep fine for traffic rules violations would go a long way in drilling some road safety awareness into them. Unless they have really deep pockets and don’t really care about the fines coming their way.

There are several other measures that can help reduce unfortunate incidents on the road, but we must understand that road safety begins with us. The rules and regulations are there to help keep us safe, but then unless and until we are not proactive and concerned enough about our safety, and safety of fellow motorists on the road, these measures will only look like sore regulations.  So let us promise ourselves to do our bit in ensuring that Indian roads are a safer place for us to drive on. 

Let’s us hope that a combination of our own efforts and the expertise and guidance from NSDF helps us make road safety not just a temporary concern but a permanent habit.