Editors Page October November 2016

Some facts can be repeated again and again. One such is that India is still facing severe problems in terms of deteriorating road safety. Since India is committed to reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50% by 2020, a multisectoral and multi-dimensional approach is expected. The Group of Ministers appointed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been making recommendations on most of the important areas – licensing, driver training, vehicle worthiness, vehicle registration, having separate Highway Police, correction of black spots, parking policy, reforms in helping accidents victims, technology inclusion etc.

This issue’s cover story looks at how choosing the right solution and product is equally important as technology when it comes to road safety. In spite of speed limit regulations, the vehicle crashes are increasing. The process of choosing a crash barrier to serve a specific purpose is extremely important, as the wrong choice can actually increase the chances of a road accident on the motorway. Let us look at what the solution providers have to say.

The panel discussion on traffic management at the Smart Mobility Expo 2016 in September highlighted that while seamless travel, smart corridors, dynamic collection & use of data… are all part of smart mobility, to have a holistic approach, the planners have to consider the health of the people through ‘active mobility’ and carbon footprints. We have an interesting debate.

Also being featured are NHAI’s initiatives on highway safety, the challenges in solving mobility challenges in hill cities, Bangalore’s dilemma over a steel flyover, incorporating data of generated traffic into transport planning and updates on ITS.

The Melbourne ITS World Congress focused on enhancing livable cities and communities through ITS: How to advance new technologies to increase connectivity, improve mobility and safety. Ubiquitous have been open data, mobile applications, cooperative & automated vehicles and many other innovations in ITS.