The SaveLIFE Foundation has published a report into distracted driving in India.

The report, ‘Distracted Driving in India: a study on mobile phone usage, pattern & behaviour’, details that in the last decade alone, India lost 1.3 million people to road crashes and another 5.3 million have been seriously injured. India has the highest number of road crash fatalities, with a crash occurring every minute and one death every four minutes. While it has just 1% of the world’s vehicles, India accounts for over 10% of global road crash fatalities.

Within the report the SaveLIFE Foundation highlights that, despite the high risks associated with distracted driving, there is little knowledge about its extent and nature in India. With the support of Vodafone India, the SaveLIFE Foundation sought to explore the current scenario of distracted driving due to mobile phone usage in eight major Indian cities.

A study was carried out by TNS India among 1,749 drivers across Delhi, Chennai, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Kanpur, Mumbai and Kolkata. SaveLIFE Foundation described the study as ‘imperative to bridge the gap in research around this globally identified risk factor, and will also be helpful in providing suggestions to policymakers for improving the on-ground situation with requisite interventions’.

The following specific objectives were outlined:

  • To determine the extent of use of mobile phones by people while on the road
  • To understand the impact of use of mobile phones on driving performance
  • To understand the perception of road users on use of mobile phones and its perils
  • To determine if respondents have been involved in accidents caused by use of mobile phones while on the road

The results showed that:

  • 47% of people receive calls on their mobile phone while driving
  • 96% of people feel unsafe as passengers if the driver was using a mobile phone while driving
  • 94% of people believe that use of mobile phones while driving is dangerous
  • 41% of people use phones for work-related purposes while driving
  • 60% of people do not stop at a safe location before answering calls

Click here to download the full report (external link: PDF).