Nitin Gadkari launches road safety data dashboard for Gurugram

At the recent ‘Safer Roads For Safer Lives’ event, hosted by Safer Roads For Gurugram (SRFG), Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari launched a road safety data dashboard for Gurugram. The dashboard uses FIR data collected by Traffic Police of Haryana from the past four years and indicates major factors causing road accidents in the state. SRFG is an outcome of an MoU between Anheuser Busch InBev (AB InBev) and the Transport Department, Haryana Government. SRFG is an autonomous working group comprising corporates, government institutions, corporations, healthcare entities, industry associations, academic institutions, civil societies, data analytics and UN agency.

The road safety data dashboard captures end-to-end data from road collisions and fatalities, thus helping to identify vulnerable spots, assess risk factors and type of accidents, profile high-risk victims and vehicles, and reveal accident data by time and week. By centralising in-depth information dating back to 2016, it aims to serve as a tool for authorities to analyse data on various parameters and devise pre-emptive measures in an efficient and timely manner.

Speaking at the occasion, Gadkari mentioned that road safety is one of the most sensitive and important subjects for the country. There are multiple challenges surrounding road safety like fake driver’s licenses, faulty road engineering and lack of adequate awareness among the public at large. He iterated that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is committed to undertaking steps to tackle each of these in an effective manner.

Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, also launched an e-learning module for ‘Youth and Road Safety’ developed by SRFG in partnership with UNITAR (United Nations Institute for Training and Research). The 90-minute module has a video-based interface that aims to raise awareness and build capacity among the youth to champion safer road use. It sheds light on the importance of road safety measures and provides core skillsets and knowledge on safe road behaviours. It also explores various different ways to help combat road traffic injuries and death.

“As per statistics, a quarter of all road crashes in India involve people up to the age of 35,” said Dr Tharoor. “Analysis of road accidents indicates four major challenges to road safety: Corrupt ways of attaining driver’s license, negligence while driving, bad road designs and poor emergency responses. Consistent efforts need to be made towards educating the public where they need to respect their fellow road users’ space when using the roads. While legislation is the place to initiate these efforts, public education will play a substantial role in creating safer roads for all.”