SIAM moots creation of safer roads to reduce accidents

The Society for Automotive Fitness & Environment (SAFE), a SIAM initiative in association with the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Transport Department, government of Odisha, organised its annual convention today in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The theme for this year's convention was ‘Vision towards Safer Roads: Technology, Education & Enforcement’.

The SAFE convention was organised to share the best practices adopted by government and private organisations in areas of vehicular safety, technology innovations, and standards for enhancing road safety.

The convention also saw the launch of ‘Road Safety Compendium of Indian Automobile Industry’ by the guest of honour, Sanjay Rastogi, principal secretary, Department of Commerce and Transport, Government of Odisha.

The inaugural session was addressed by Dr N Saravanan, president, SAFE along with Sanjay Rastogi, principal secretary, Department of Commerce and Transport, government of Odisha, Sudarsan Patnaik, renowned sand artist, Odisha and Naveen Soni, vice-president, SAFE.

Speaking at the convention, Dr N Saravanan, president, SAFE said, “Road safety is a shared responsibility. We as manufacturers are committed to initiate steps to equip vehicles with safety technologies and support the creation of responsibility and safety culture with our users. We automobile manufacturers are the integral part of SAFE’s family and are confident that with the support of the government and all other stakeholders, our efforts to make roads safer and develop sustainable road transport system are achievable.”

Sanjay Rastogi, principal secretary, Department of Commerce and Transport, government of Odisha, reiterated his views during his address. He said, “Every individual is responsible for making the roads safer. The government alone cannot enforce the road safety measures without the help of drivers, pedestrians and the auto industry. We all have to come together and educate the people and reduce the fatalities on our roads.”

Two different technical sessions were organised during the convention. The first technical session highlighted the projects implemented and upcoming road map by the government of Odisha. Tapan Mishra, assistant director, Transport Department, government of Odisha, along with Bikash Mohapatra, secretary, Forum for Prevention of Road Accidents and Mahesh Rajoria, advisor, Maruti Suzuki India, made presentations during the session.

The second technical session encapsulated the steps taken in planning the traffic and data analysis. During the session, Amit Bhatt, Integrated Urban Transport, WRI made a presentation on ‘Making cities safer by design’. Abbas Rawat of KPIT Technologies encapsulated the importance of traffic demand handling while Sitikantha Padhy of NATRiP and N Balasubramanian of Renault Nissan shared their insights on accident data collection and on-road analysis.

The final session comprised of a panel discussion coordinated by K K Gandhi, executive director, SIAM and moderated by Dr. N Saravanan, president, SAFE. The panellists discussed the road map of usage of ITS in improving safety and the environment. The panellists included D Balakrishnan, Ashok Leyland; Dr Madhu Errampalli, CRRI; Guururaj H, KSRTC and Sangeet Kapoor, Tata Motors.