World Economic Forum launches tech-driven road safety project in India
World Economic Forum has launched a Road Safety 2.0 program in India in collaboration with the central government of India, Niti Aayog and the Union Road Transport Ministry. The project aims to introduce technology into all 4Es of road safety - Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency care.
As per a World Road Safety report from 2018, India is on the top in the list of 199 countries in terms of the number of road fatalities, with 11 per cent of the global road fatalities taking place in India alone. In the past one decade, more than one million people have lost their lives in road accidents. The majority of them were young people who came from low economic backgrounds. These incidents have led to tragic experiences for their families as well as hampered the Indian GDP by over 3 per cent.
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The Road Safety 2.0 project is a flagship program of the World Economic Forum's Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI) in collaboration with FIA & WIAA under the banner of the Road Safety Partnership in India (RSPI). As per the Project Head, Akhilesh Srivastava, nearly 75 per cent of road accidents take place due to human mistakes such as overspeeding, fatigue, stress and poor driving skills. With the use of technology, such human limitations can be compensated and the leverage of IR 4.0 technologies in road safety can drastically improve the situation.
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Stakeholders of project include UN Special Envoy, World Bank, Indian Government Ministries, Industry leaders, corporate houses, National Highway Authority of India, State Transport Commissioners, Western India Automobile Association (WIAA), Highway Operators, Vehicle Manufacturers, Society of Indian Automobiles (SIAM), Tech Start-Ups, Insurance companies, Hospital chains, and All India Motor Congress among other road safety experts.
The World Economic Forum and FIA along with the Government of India have set the target of a 50% reduction in road fatalities in the country by 2025.
(with inputs from ANI/NewsVoir)
