Implementation, Integration, Performance Standards…

Bharat Anand
Partner, Safety First

Most of the users are yet to comprehend the significance and utilization of safety products that are mostly treated as more of compliance than a necessity. Especially when it comes to Vehicle Restraint Systems, usage of tested barriers and their testing criteria are yet to be comprehended.

System providers are doing their bit by aggressive marketing and presentations to make users understand their products but the authorities need to push for utilisation of correct products in the field of road safety. We need to make sure we use latest technology & designs which use less resources (monetarily and ecological wise) and provide greater safety.

The major challenge occurs when road safety products are installed as an afterthought. The biggest problem today lies in two major areas:

For example, in the case of road safety crash barriers, till Jan 2015, India did not have proper standards. It was in 2015, that the Government notified implementation of “Performance Based Standards” in line with global international standards. Its implementation is yet to start in projects. We are continually educating the all stakeholders but it will take time for all to come on board fully. Our experience has been that there is a general reluctance in granting approval by the independent engineer / consultant due to contractual and performance related issues.

• The Implementation of the latest guidelines and including it at the drafting stage of new contracts being awarded by the Road Authorities.
• India has largely installed only two kinds of crash barriers till three-four years ago i.e. Concrete Barriers and Metal Beam Crash Barriers. The design of the Metal Beam Barrier to be installed has been adopted from the American Generic Design and has been included in the IRC and MoRTH manuals. The said American Generic design has failed multiple crash tests and has now been discontinued in America and keeping that in mind, even the IRC has published its guidelines for Traffic Safety Barriers (IRC:119:2015) and specified that only Crash Tested Metal Beam and Wire Rope Barriers are to be implemented on Indian Roads. Each tested barrier system has different designs across systems and within the same system depending on the implementation. The road designers in India are still to fully comprehend this and there is a need to understand & adopt different systems for different scenarios.
• In western countries, the road authorities have appointed specialized consultants to define the type of system and its place/location for its installation. The adaptation of tested systems is incomplete till this practice is followed for their utilization.