Speed thrills but kills: Noida road safety volunteers on MotoGP's impact on youngsters

Thousands of young men lose their lives on roads across India every year due to overspeeding, then why is the MotoGP race -- an extravaganza of motorcycles running at 350 kilometres per hour -- being celebrated, wonders Raghvendra Kumar, also known as the 'Helmet Man of India'.

Kumar regularly collaborates with the Noida Traffic Police as a volunteer to spread awareness about road safety. In 2014, he lost a friend in an accident on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. His friend was not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle.

Moved by the incident, Kumar quit his private job and turned into a full-time road safety exponent. Till date, he has distributed over 56,000 helmets, earning the moniker of 'Helmet Man of India'.

A query sent by PTI to representatives of the event organisers for comment remained unanswered.

'The MotoGP race takes place in 30 countries. India will become the 31st country on this list. But what are we gaining from this? Name or profit? This high-speed bike race is happening in a country that accounts for maximum road accidents in the world,' Kumar said.

'I know we cannot stop the race from happening. But a message must go to the people of the country that they should not participate in this event. In a country where 1.50 lakh people, a large number of them young, die on the road annually despite upper speed limits of 100 kilometres per hour, why are we are we celebrating a show of 350 kilometres per hour,' Kumar said.

He said an event like this will 'impact the impressionable minds of youngsters, who are enticed to replicate the thrill' on their vehicles. In the run-up to the mega event taking place from September 22-24 at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, Kumar also wrote to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the request that the race be avoided.

Social and RTI activist Amit Gupta claimed that road safety as a sector is the 'most ignored' by government authorities and the police in Noida and Greater Noida.

Citing media reports, he said eight people have died in the district in the last week alone and the victims were either pedestrians or those on two-wheelers.

'Around 400 deaths are recorded in the district every year in Gautam Buddh Nagar. How can we celebrate MotoGP, knowing well that at least one person is losing their life daily on city roads?' Gupta said.

Ram Bichar Singh, an assistant professor of computer science at a private college in Greater Noida and a road safety volunteer, also raised concern over the event.

'We are a developing economy. This sport is not fit for us yet. The young minds here get influenced easily. They get inspired from sports and cinema and try to recreate the thrill with stunts on roads,' Singh said.

Brajesh Sharma, who volunteers with the traffic police in Noida, said MotoGP is a showcase event for India, which holds the presidency of the G20 and adds to the country's fame at the global level.

India will formally retain the presidency of the influential bloc till the end of November.

'Apart from this, I do not see any practical use of holding such an event here. It will largely impress young people only but they are not going to find appropriate road conditions to ride bikes unless on the Yamuna Expressway, which too, has a speed limit,' he said.

'And we know, speed thrills but kills,' Sharma remarked.

India lost 1.53 lakh lives in 2021, 1.31 lakh in 2020, 1.51 lakh in 2019 due to road accidents, according to official figures of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The figures for 2022 and 2023 are yet to be published.

'Road safety continues to be a major developmental issue, a public health concern and a leading cause of death and injury across the world. At least one out of 10 people killed on roads across the world is from India, according to the World Health Organization,' MoRTH Minister Nitin Gadkari noted in the 2021 report.

'The cost of road accidents is borne not only by the victims and their family but by the economy as a whole in terms of untimely deaths, injuries, disabilities and loss of potential income. It is indeed a matter of great concern that despite the continuing efforts of the government in this regard and our commitments for halving fatalities we have not been able to register significant progress on this front,' he wrote.

The senior lawmaker also noted that 'unfortunately' the worst affected age group in road accidents is 18-45, which accounts for about 67 per cent of total accident deaths.

Organised by FairStreet Sports in collaboration with Dorna Sports, the Grand Prix of India will witness 41 teams and 82 riders participating in the MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3 categories and feature names such as Francesco Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Brad Binder, Jack Miller and Jorge Martin.