Road Safety: A Global Issue, Needs a Multidisciplinary Approach and Efforts

Abstract: Road safety is considered as a Global Issue, because road accident results in a magnificent number of fatalities and injuries annual globally, making it a major cause of death, particularly among young people, and posing a significant public health concern across different regions; with factors like speeding, drunk driving, distracted driving, and poor road infrastructure contributing to the issue. Road safety is an effort to minimize the accidents and accidents severity by taking precautions before accidents as measures of preparedness, steps just during accidents and analysis and improvements after accidents. Road safety required interdisciplinary knowledge in pre accident period to prepare to reduce accidents and its severity, during accident to stop fatalities and serious injuries and after accident for corrective measures to avoid future accidents, and to minimize ill effects of accidents. Hence it is a collaborative effort that involves multiple disciplines to improve road safety. In different road safety models strategy includes ‘5E’ Engineering, Enforcement, Education, Emergency medical services and Empathy of Human. Enforcement is strictly enforcing traffic laws to deter speeding and drunk driving, wrong side driving, overloading of commercial vehicle etc. Engineering of road and vehicle aim to improve roads and vehicles to avoid accidents and fatalities and serious injuries, Improve road conditions, signage, lighting, and design of road and vehicles both .Education and awareness is to educate road users about the risks of speeding, drunk driving, and distracted driving, it also involves to educate peoples about traffic rules and road signage and markings. Similarly Emergency medical trauma services are to ensure emergency services are available and responsive. Empathy or behavior change to encourage road users to wear seat belts, helmets, and child restraints, and to avoid drinking and distractions while driving to avoid accidents. Thus in road safety multi disciplines required to collaborate together with interdisciplinary knowledge to prepare for accidents which may occur, quick action during accidents and analysis and improvements after accidents. Different government, public sector and private stake holders responsible for road safety have to educate and train in different disciplines to minimize the effect of road accidents. Similarly different NGOs and volunteers required multidisciplinary training and interdisciplinary action to cater awareness and to help victims of accidents during and after accidents. Most important road users and drivers also required multi discipline education and training and training to take interdisciplinary action to overcome severity of road accidents and to reduce loss of property and life in accidents which is not a national but a global challenge. By taking steps towards interdisciplinary research, education and training accidents cannot stop but losses of accidents can be reduce significantly.