DO WE NEED AIRBAGS IN CITIES?

Based on data published  on a couple of Indian cities (Internet), and of India as a whole,  and comparing that to USA general statistics of fatalities related to accidents, following are some of the findings that make interesting comparisons:

Hyderabad: approximately 1500 fatalities per year  on road, Fatalities/KM- 2.7 or fatality once every 0.36 KM per year.

Jaipur:

Of the total fatalities studied in a year: Two wheeler related fatalities – 49%.Two wheelers without helmet – 87%,out of total two wheeler fatalities. 4 wheeler fatalities – 15%,Pedestrian fatalities- 32%.Cycle fatalities – 2%.Late night deaths (6 – 12 PM)- 48%.Morning hour fatalities (6AM -12 PM)- 21%.Least deaths (12 AM- 6 AM)- 5%

India as a whole

38 KM for one fatality

USA as a whole

158 Million KM per fatality. Fatalities above 55 MPH (88 KPH) – 50%

Fatalities below 30MPH(48 KPH)- 10%

Following can be surmised from the above data:

In India avoid two wheelers. If unavoidable, use a good helmet. India has a long way to go on safety. Most issues are probably due to mismatch in vehicles, ignorance of laws and poor infrastructure.

In cities it appears since the average speed is generally around 15KM/Hr, most of the time it is the pedestrian or the two wheeler that gets hit. As such airbags probably rarely deploy. In order for an air bag to deploy one needs a deceleration from 46 KM/hr to 0 KM/Hr in about 50 Milli-Seconds. In order decelerate this much, a car must hit a flat wall at 46 KM/Hr or hit another car, which is also traveling  at 23 KM/Hr head to head..

Add to this most people  misuse front seats by not using belts and also by placing children. Airbags in these situations can actually harm the person.

From this one can conclude that a well built car that can help with most low speed impacts is sufficient to provide safety within the city limits. Airbags are not necessary. Contrast this with US. Most accidents are high speed and so airbags are essential, combined with good structure and seat belts.

One can spend more on ABS and EBD etc that help in avoiding accidents in india.

Also this means, contrary to general opinion, when two wheeler buyers switch to cars (NANO), we might actually see a reduction in fatalities in cities and in many cases even smooth flow of traffic instead of the  zig zag driving by two wheelers, which impedes the same.

Ref: http://medind.nic.in/jal/t08/i1/jalt08i1p6.pdf, http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

Fatalities in cities won't reduce till people change their mindset. On Delhi roads, we see plenty of guys who have evolved from scooters to Maruti's..upto BMW, in recent boom. but their driving style remains scooter-like - pushing into the tightest gap seen, making gaps where none exist, shaming other driver into making way for them, by daring to side-touch, cutting off just for fun, uncouth and foul language in incidents regardless of the fact that 99% their behavior contributes to the incident... *shakes head in disgust* It is this lot who is going to own NANO at the first opportunity, add to congestion, and multiply problems.

EBD is very good, but even ABS is not of much use in Indian context, in my opinion. On congested roads, there is no opportunity to skid, you tailgate much before that . And if you say it redistributes power in case where wheels are stuck, your car has much more trouble in store if you drive on roads where getting bogged in muck is a possibility... So for city (and sober, moderate) use, seat belts, EBD, power steering is of use, and ABS, airbags are just fancy trappings, to be discussed in parties. In my humble opinion of course, to be taken with a bucket of salt...

Patience is all what people need to have while driving, if they don't then they have to have airbags.

Here its like "I want Patience and I want it now" 

Guys there is a quite a long thread on Airbags in this section itself-so we can continue discussions on the same there.