TrafficInfraTech Magazine Linking People Places & Progress
The second session of Day 1 of the Smart Mobility Conference put together by IRF IC, saw eminent panellists Akhilesh Srivastava, Executive Vice President-IRF IC; GVM Kiran Babu, Vice President (Tech – O&M) Corporate Highway-Concessions One Private Limited; Hardik Dave, Founder CEO-Roadvision AI Pvt. Ltd; Swatantra Kumar, General Manager-3M India Ltd; Dr Amit Gupta, Prof. of Surgery, Trauma Centre-AIIMS and moderator; Dr S Velmurugan, Chief Scientist-CRRI discussing critical aspects of road safety, including use of technology in reducing the number of fatalities due to road accidents and improving trauma care post the incident.
Managing a large road network of approximately 40,000kms of roadway is challenging if it involves continuous data collection. The cost associated with mobilizing the entire ground workforce for half-yearly data collective drives is also prohibitive. Data collection using satellites is an option.
– Hardik Dave
Setting the context, Akhilesh Srivastava stated that with India having the highest number of reported road fatalities in the world – 11% of the global average with just two per cent of the vehicles – at 1.7 lakhs a year and a suspected 60% not being reported at all, the question arises why the number has not been contained and reduced year-on-year. Despite multiple initiatives taken by the government, India has seen a 12% jump in road fatalities in 2023 as against a 5% decrease globally during the same period.
The International Road Federation is trying to identify, diagnose and work on the solution, which cannot be implemented in isolation. The safe system approach recommends a combination of ‘Five Es’ – Engineering, Enforcement, Emergency Care, Education and Empathy. Road engineering is vital and will invite accidents with potholes, sudden merging & demerging, blind curves and slippery surfaces. Vehicle engineering is equally crucial and must include safety precautions like seat belts and airbags. India has constructed roads at a brisk pace in the last 25 years with the creation of a number of high-speed corridors, expressways and highways. The number of registered vehicles has increased as well with 2023 showing a jump by ten times to 58.6 lakhs when compared to 1998.
Enforcement, however, has not grown at the same pace. There is growing automation in metros but the same cannot be said outside city limits. This has led to unchecked rash driving resulting in injuries and fatalities, prompting treatment to victims within the golden hour immediately after the incident. Emergency care, however, has also not kept pace with road infrastructure, resulting in much higher fatalities. Road safety education, according to a study, has not had the desired impact on road users. Technology, therefore, has been identified as the enabler to improved road safety. Using AI, IoT and cloud computing, drivers and their driving behaviour can be tracked and corrective measures implemented promptly to reduce injuries and fatalities.
Unfortunately, road safety awareness remains low, leading to risky behaviour like over speeding, drunk driving, opposite travel, not wearing helmets and neglecting seat belts. Engineering solutions need to be supported by effective policies and regulations.
– GVM Kiran Babu
Highlighting road engineering and key safety challenges in India, Kiran Babu informed that many roads have been poorly maintained with potholes, improper signages, lack of markings and warning indicators, all of which are crucial for guiding drivers. Potholes and cracks increase the risk of vehicular damage and cause abrupt braking, leading to collisions. Poor drainage leads to water logging during monsoons making roads slippery. A significant number of intersections, especially in smaller cities, are ill-managed or lack traffic signals. Engineering solutions need to focus on regular maintenance and quality materials for construction.
Other challenges include limited installation of ATMS like adaptive traffic control, automated incident detection and real-time traffic updates, though these systems are crucial for efficient traffic flow and accident prevention. Indian roads accommodate a mix of vehicles, from bicycles and bullock carts to cars and heavy trucks, all traveling on the same roads with no dedicated lanes. Roads, especially in rural areas, are not designed according to modern standards resulting in issues like improper curvature, narrow lanes and unmarked shoulders.
Implementing better geometric design, including proper lane widths, adequate turning radii and safe pedestrian crossings is crucial. Urban roads lack proper sidewalks, footpaths and pedestrian crossing, increasing the risk for non-motorised road users. There is also the absence of dedicated lanes for cyclists and two-wheelers. All these compromise on road safety.
Larger issues like traffic violations are being addressed with the help of technology. Vehicles running without renewal of their PUC certificates are being captured in cameras at fuel stations. The data transmitted to the central Vahan database, generate automatic challans for penalties.
– Dr S Velmurugan
Designing roads that naturally encourage safer driving habits (traffic calming measures like rumbling strips) can be effective. Engineering better street lighting and reflective road markings, delineators and road studs can enhance road safety. Roads with adequate access for emergency vehicles like median openings and parking facilities can improve response times during accidents. Extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain, fog and heat affect road safety and designing roads resilient to environmental stress can be a challenge.
Hardik Dave presented technology solutions using AI and digital twin for road engineering problems. The road infra sector has to address three issues: provide connectivity to all-weather roads, have access to high quality ones and ensure safety. Technology can help with data collection using satellites to digitize and classify the entire road network. Classification can be done based on road quality and the field workforce can then be appointed for a more detailed survey using drones, survey vehicles, smartphones or dashcams. Once data is available, AI-powered construction planning and monitoring tools can give an end-to-end digital simulation of the network for further action.
Changing needs require superior technology. In order to communicate with the motorist (caution and warn) and relay information in order to prevent accidents, various products like signage, vehicle parking signs, road furniture and pavement marking are being developed.
– Swatantra Kumar
The detailed survey can gather intelligence around road conditions including potholes, patches, cracks and other defects and by creating a road profile by surveying the same road over a period of time, AI can predict future maintenance requirements. Thousands of kilometres of road data can be processed in minutes and reports for strategy building are available. Road safety audits can also be based on these reports. Thus, technology can provide solutions for the construction and maintenance of roads as well as traffic monitoring and surveillance. Scaling existing roads with increase in traffic is also possible with AI.
Innovations in road safety was the focus of Swatantra Kumar’s presentation. With gradual increase in speed, there is gradual increase in accidents too so good quality of sign boards and road furniture is a must. Innovative technologies like reflective sheeting for high observation angles, long distance visibility and increased legibility distance were good for high-speed corridors. Digital printing of traffic colour (red, blue, green, yellow, orange and brown) areas on white sheeting is another innovation.
Vandalised road signs are protected with graffiti-resistant overlay film for easier clean-up and UV protected to resist excessive fading or discolouring. To overcome adverse weather conditions including fog, rain and water logging, innovations like all-weather performance, abrasion and skid-resistant reflective tapes can be directly pasted on the surface. Other road furniture like median markers, aluminium backed flexible prismatic, vertical delineators and Smart VMS (variable message sign) are also used to promote road safety.
Trauma care is still to be brought under the purview of the Ayushman Bharat scheme and efforts are being made towards that end. MoRTH has also promised money from the road safety fund, collected from vehicle registration charges and penalties levied.
– Dr Amit Gupta
Dr Amit Gupta’s focus was on emergency care. What goes behind every accident is a personal tragedy which affects not only the victim but his family and relatives. The majority of patients coming to the trauma centre are left disabled lifelong with amputations, spinal cord or brain injuries and cannot go back to society without rehabilitation. India is not only number one in road fatalities but also the first in the disability-adjusted life years lost, because most of the victims are young between the ages of 18 and 40.
Emergency health care systems in India are the reflections of the gross health care systems in the country. The acute, trauma or emergency system is a subset of the wider health care services. In addition, India has very low spending on healthcare, about 2.4% of the GDP. There is a lot of variability in health care within the country, even within cities and their periphery. The private health care sector plays an important role not in emergency care but in elective care where one has the option to choose between hospitals and doctors but a road accident victim is taken to the nearest government hospital whose trauma care has limited infrastructure, untrained manpower and unstructured processes.
We do keep hearing the same story year after year that the number of fatalities is rising, despite the best efforts of the government, NGOs and civil societies. We are obviously going wrong somewhere. I believe technology, more than awareness, is going to improve road safety.
– Akhilesh Srivastava
An injured person in India has 16 times more likelihood of dying than a person with the same injury in developed countries, the reason being lack of a robust emergency or trauma care system. Police vans are still the major carriers of the trauma victims from the road followed by auto rickshaws, ambulances and private four wheelers. The majority of the patients are being brought in by family, relatives or the police and not trained healthcare professionals. Though states have started 108 ambulance services, the problem remains that there is no legislation and no authority which controls what is happening in these ambulances and how such patients are being taken care of. And finally, there is no data which can help improve emergency care systems.