S. Vishnu Sharma
COERS has launched zero accident day campaign in association with Greater Chennai Traffic Police.
It is a 20-day comprehensive road safety campaign aiming to achieve zero road accidents, improve road safety awareness among drivers & promote responsible driving practices.
The road network in India has grown at a rate of 59% in the past nine years and stands as second in the world with the largest road network of 66.71 lakh km as of 2023, say sources from COERS.
Every year, the country loses an average of 1,50,000 people to road accidents, of whom 25% of people are under 25 years old and 89% of people are under 60 years old, say sources from COERS.
These are the productive working population of India, leading to a tremendous socio-economic loss for families, society and the Nation, say sources from COERS.
Work with GCTP
COERS is working with the Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) on multiple capacity and capability improvement programs.
As many as 69 investigating officers (IOs) have been upskilled in performing scientific crash investigations to identify the root causes of the crashes, say sources from COERS.
A total of 40 children and 80 schoolteachers and parents were introduced to gamified activity-based learning of road safety to improve their knowledge and cognition on being an informed road user, say sources from COERS.
Inauguration
The awareness campaign for ‘Zero Accident Day ‘(ZAD) was inaugurated at the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) Depot by Thiru R Sudhakar, IPS, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), GCTP.
Others present were, Dr Alby John Varghese, IAS, Managing Director, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), Professor Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Head, COERS, IIT Madras.
Also present were, Bandi Gangadhar, IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Traffic) South, P Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Traffic) North, and V Baskaran, Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Traffic) East.
Workshop
CoERS organized capacity building workshops at IIT Madras to drive activity-based learning (ABL) on road safety rules, signages and etiquette for Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus drivers, school children, teachers and traffic wardens.
In Addition, GCTP has engineered several initiatives at community level, such as engaging the vibrant youth as stakeholders, by means of a reel making competition, and several flash mobs are part of the campaign, say sources from COERS.
Programmes are also underway to engage other sections of society including sensitising e-commerce platforms and their staff, IT firms, and engagements with hospitals, auto-rickshaw drivers, residential associations and slums.
Activities to incentivise compliance with road rules such as traffic signal, seatbelts, helmets and stop line programmes are also a part of Zero Accident Day campaign.
Director
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “At IIT Madras, we believe in providing solutions to everyday problems that plague our society.
Road safety is matter of vital importance, given its long-term implications on the socio-economic status of accident victims, he said.
Bringing down road crash fatalities is a crucial step in increasing the standard of living in our Country.
‘We are hopeful that this initiative by COERS, IIT Madras and GCTP will yield positive results by enabling the required mind set change among the general public.’
We need more such awareness programmes to sensitise road users on safe driving practices, he said.
Inaugural
Alby John Varghese said Zero accident day is an innovative concept where we are creating awareness on different subjects on different days.
MTC buses play a large role in the movement of vehicles in our city. Our bus drivers drive 100s of kilometres in a day and do it under stressful conditions, said the chief guest.
This training programme as part of the ZAD campaign with IIT Madras will help them better navigate the city’s roads and make them both better drivers and role models for other drivers, he said.
Training
The MTC Drivers were provided ‘simulator-based training in safe driving concepts, hazard perception, and driving etiquette which will go a long way in improving their ability to drive safely.
Future Drivers
Emphasising the necessity of training future drivers, Sreenivasan Janakiraman, CSR Head, Ford Motor Private Limited, said to tap into India’s demographic dividend.
It’s very important to take action today to create responsible road users for the future.
As an automotive company, we understand that road safety is critical and we are glad to be a part of this initiative to train young drivers and make our roads safer, he said.
Reduction
R Sudhakar, IPS, Additional Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai Traffic Police, said, every city across the world witnesses accidents.
Our aim has always been to bring down road accidents and fatalities and make Chennai a zero-accident city, even if it is for one day, he said.
We’re happy to partner with COERS and IIT Madras to make this happen. Normally when someone says Zero, there is a negative image attached to it, he said.
We wanted to change this, and give zero a positive changeover. This ZAD campaign is for 20 days with different stakeholders with a unique theme for each day to create maximum awareness and impact, he said.
Awareness
Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Head, CoERS and RBG Labs, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras said road users need to be continuously refreshed on knowledge of road rules, proper driving etiquette.
They need to be refreshed even about violations and negligent driving behaviour that cause road safety hazards to people, infrastructure, and vehicles, said head of COERS.
Enforcement could provide interventions only to a limited extent to maintain the safety of all road users, said head of COERS.
This vision Zero Accidents in Chennai is within reach but can only become a reality if all of us undergo a behavioural and mindset change to educate ourselves to be responsible road users, he said.
Road Safety
This entire month of the Zero Accident Day (ZAD) campaign by GCTP will be about road safety education and awareness for all road users in Chennai at all age levels.
Several activities at the community level, schools, colleges, IT parks are planned in Chennai as an endeavour towards making Chennai roads safe.
About COERS
The Centre of Excellence in Road Safety (COERS) at IIT Madras is funded by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Government of India.
It performs evidence-based integrated approach to Road Safety.
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COERS works on various aspects of human factors engineering, road engineering and vehicle engineering to bring about significant improvements in road safety globally.
This COERS also advices various stakeholders and Governments to bring about a data-driven systems approach to road safety.