A study on accidents by World Health Organisation (WHO), Harvard University and World Bank.

Road accidents would move to the third place in the table of leading causes of death and disability by 2020, according to a study by World Health Organisation (WHO), Harvard University and World Bank.

To create more awareness and engaging corporates towards road safety, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Southern Region, had organised a day-long seminar on `Road Safety — Engaging Corporates’ here on Friday.

Inaugurating the seminar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic & Security) Praveen Sood said that lack of sincerity among the motorists was the root cause of most traffic violations and not lack of proper awareness.

"The traffic department is in the process of introducing nonintrusive and evidence-based law enforcement. Efforts are on to computerise all RTO branches and traffic stations, so that offenders can be tracked and traffic tickets dispatched to the vehicle owner’s address,’’ Sood informed.

Managing Director of Praxair India Private Limited Gajanan Nabar said that India currently had the dubious distinction of being ranked first in the number of road accidents.

“In Bangalore, 40 per cent of road fatalities were two-wheeler riders and 23 per cent were pedestrians,’’ stated Nabar and added that the major factors contributing to accidents were negligence by road-users, poor road conditions and unsafe or poorly maintained vehicles.

Punj Lloyd Limited Deputy General Manager Mukesh Arora said that non-uniformity in methods of traffic control and placement of signs increased confusion among road-users.

"Majority of vehicle drivers are, at best, only semi-literate,’’ he added.

Arora said that a good road safety device should be bright, placed properly, uniform and durable, which helped in improving road safety. He stressed the importance of self-discipline among motorists.

On the occasion, Praveen Sood launched a FM radiobased media campaign on 'lane discipline and use of indicators’ catering to Bangaloreans.

The campaign is a joint venture by CII and the Bangalore City Traffic Police and is a radio jingle that portrays the illeffects of negligent driving combined with a message asking the listeners to observe lane discipline and use indicators wherever needed.