Page 32 - TrafficInfratech Magazine Feb - Mar 2020

SAFETY

System, Passenger Information Along with ITMS project,
System, a mobile application for NMMC had also came up with an
citizens, a Command and Control app which can inform every passen
Centre, an incident management ger about when a bus is arriving,
system, an Automatic Fare if it is on time or if there has a
Collection System, Planning and breakdown,” informed Municipal
Scheduling Management and Commissioner, Annasaheb Misal.
Business Intelligence systems, The Corporation also launched a
among others. The control room Navi Smart Card that can be used
is located at CBD Belapur. for ticketing and shopping too.

AROUND THE WORLD

Sweden Singapore Norway

Sweden is one the ideal example Apart from strictly enforcing With some of the safest roads in
of a holistic approach to road safety. speed limits and other road the world, one of the interesting
In 1997, Sweden adopted a ‘Vision regulations (coupled with steep fines things about Norway’s road safety
Zero’ policy based on the idea that and punishments for offenders), norms is that, regardless of the time
‘no loss of life was acceptable’ and Singapore deploys a lot of technology or the visibility, having your headlights
that rather than trying to alter human to keep drivers safe including on while driving is mandatory. This,
behaviour, the focus should be on ‘advanced warning lights’ that inform supposedly decreases the risk of
designing a better system of roads drivers about upcoming traffic lights
and other infrastructure, vehicle and ‘Your Speed Signs’ that are collision, as even on a bright sunny
technology and enforcement. live electronic signs which calculate day, spotting a car with headlights
Today, the country has low- and display the real-time speeds of on is easier.
speed limits, pedestrian zones, and vehicles. According to its National Plan of
segregated vehicular traffic. One of Recently, Singapore has been Action for Road Traffic Safety 2014–
the most successful safety measures, making a push to improve pedestrian 2017, Norway aims to bring down its
according to authorities, is the ‘2+1’ safety, particularly for children and figure of fatalities and severe injuries
roads. These are three-lane roads the elderly. ‘Silver zones’ with lower by half by 2024. In 2015, 117 were
have two-lanes dedicated to vehicles speed limits, narrower lanes, and killed and 693 people were severely
moving in one direction and one for dividers between lanes to decrease injured in road accidents. These
those heading in the other and these the length to be walked at one figures have gone down by roughly
are altered every few kilometers. stretch and allow senior citizens to more than 40 per cent in the last
This prevents over-speeding and rest in the middle of the crossing are decade, being 224 deaths in 2005.
overtaking. being introduced in residential areas.
In general, rules are strict and all
The authorities are also betting big According to the government’s
on self-driving cars to bring down Annual Road Traffic Situation 2015 kinds of aggressive driving (such as
accident rates. In 2015, Sweden had report, the number of casualties risky overtaking) is regarded as an
a reported road accident death rate has been on a gradual, but steady, offense in the country. Additionally,
of 2.8 per 1,00,000. When the Vision decline. In 2015, Singapore had 149 overtaking is discouraged and is only
Zero was launched, this figure was 7 fatal accidents, significantly down permitted on long straight roads with
per 1,00,000. from 1998’s 975. plenty of visibility.

32 February-March 2020 / TrafficInfraTech www.trafficinfratech-com-500653.hostingersite.com