Page 54 - TT Magazine Feb-Mar 2019

SAFETY

Comprehensive approach

to Road Safety

With road crashes claiming more than
150,000 lives in India, it is essential to make

road safety focus of any road project in the
country says Nupur Gupta, Senior Transport
Specialist, World Bank Group

n line with international experience • The creation of a new fully- Promising achievements
and practice, the World Bank equipped trauma care center at a
has progressively developed a local hospital The impact of civil works: Civil
comprehensive approach to road • Improved enforcement of traffic works were focused on the most
Isafety that doesn’t just consider laws vulnerable sections of the road, and
infrastructure design but brings involved interventions such as curve
together all key stakeholders that • Targeted initiatives focused on and junction improvements, widening,
have a stake in making and keeping particular road users. retro-reflective signage, lane markings,
roads safe, from police authorities to The Transport Department was safe pedestrian crossings, crash barriers
transport and health departments as designated the Lead Agency for and road studs. The results were
well as infrastructure providers. implementing the Safe Road Corridor impressive: locations where curves and
and a Road Safety Cell was set junctions were improved saw a 53%
One example of this approach is the reduction in road crashes and 42%
138.6km long Kadapa to Renigunta up within the Department. When reduction in fatalities.
safety demonstration corridor we started implementing these Effective enforcement for safer
interventions back in 2014, this was
implemented by the Government of driving: Two Highway Patrolling
Andhra Pradesh under the Andhra one of the first deliberate multi-sectoral Outposts were created at Rajampet
efforts to improve the safety of a road
Pradesh & Telangana Road Sector and Renigunta and equipped with tow-
Project (APTRSP). in the country. As the project is nearing
completion, now is a good time to look away cranes, patrolling vehicles, speed
The corridor itself was chosen at preliminary results. Between 2009 laser guns, breath analyzers etc. The
based on its poor safety performance and 2017, the number of fatalities focus of enforcement was on checking
in 2010 through an International declined by 40%, from 0.26 to 0.16 over-speeding and drunken driving, and
Road Assessment Programme (iRap) per ten thousand vehicles. While these accidents involving cars, auto-rickshaws
survey. To enhance the safety of the numbers are certainly encouraging, we and light commercial vehicles dropped.
demonstration corridor, the following know we can take this further, so let’s Evidence-based interventions: The
measures were proposed: take stock of what worked and what Transport Department took a close
• Infrastructure improvements could be improved. look at available data to understand

54 February - March ’19 / TrafficInfraTech www.trafficinfratech-com-500653.hostingersite.com