Given that India has one of the worst road traffic accident rates worldwide, the National Council of Education, Research and Technology’s recent decision to introduce road safety courses in the school curriculum is a welcome move. In association with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Central Board of Secondary Education is already preparing road safety study modules that will
initially be offered to high school students and eventually to those in middle school as well. The reason for targeting this group is obvious: Globally, road traffic injury is the number one leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 29 years. Indeed, according to the World Health Organization, every hour 40 people under the age of 25 die in road accidents around the world. And, the numbers from India fit just well into that pattern. According to Government data, a shocking 32.4 per cent of road accident victims in India are young adults between the ages of 15 and 24.
