The International Road Federation – India Chapter (IRF-IC) recently hosted its 3rd lecture as part of the ongoing Lecture Series 2.0. The focus was on "What is Wrong in the Legal System of Road Safety (Accident) Adjudication – There is no Means to Prove Innocence." The event featured guest speakers Justice J.R. Midha, Former Judge, Delhi High Court, and Dr. Arun Mohan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act of 2019 has brought in many changes, especially some drastic provisions for increased fines for the violations, which was making sensations during first 3-4 months after the Act was implemented. That was meant for deterring the violations and to avoid and minimize the road accidents. But there has been no effect of these enhanced fines for different violations in terms of improved discipline or the road user behaviours. Basically, most of the accidents are happening due to the rogue behaviours of a class of road users. Most disciplined road users also get involved in an accident due to others’ irresponsible behaviours on roads. There is no way in this country to prove innocence. Also, Police attending the accident scene has absolutely no idea about how and why an accident takes place, except his/her general knowledge. Basically the unwritten rule is that both are at fault, because the Insurance Rule dictates that insurance of each vehicle will pay for the repairs of the damages. Since there is no way that the responsibility can be fixed, this is the simple way the damages are claimed from respective insurances. But this is not so in most developed countries – and how they fix responsibility of the accident, and all claims/damages are paid by responsible party only. A very large part of the problem is caused by the very poor, slack, immoral, and partisan enforcement without any use of technology or techniques. Further, there is practically no enforcement on all lower modes using the roads, e.g. pedestrian, bicycle, e-Rickshaw, Motorcycle, and so on. There appears to be no road rules for motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians and e-Rickshaws, etc. There is a soft corner from enforcement agency for all of them, and there is no enforcement for their irresponsible behaviours. At present the proportion of fatality to 2-wheeler riders is 45% in 2022 out of total fatalities in India as 168,491. If road rules are practiced as in developed world making irresponsible road users responsible for accidents, then India will have 80% fatalities to 2-wheeler riders and other lower modes. Actually other vehicles continuously save them in the traffic stream inconveniencing themselves and often by jeopardising their own safety. A car or truck driver, even when he is travelling at permitted urban speed of 50 km/h, if a pedestrian or cyclist unexpectedly comes in front he/she will be run over and will probably be killed. There is no mechanism in the motor vehicles to stop instantaneously. If there is no CCTV footage, only victim and the motor vehicle driver being in scene of incident, who will decide the responsibility of this accident. As per Indian Police’s unwritten rule, the bigger mode is always responsible for the accident; and there is no means to prove or establish innocence. The IRF-IC Webinar focussed on this critical issue of accident adjudication in India. While the laws of the country should punish the culprits, it must have provisions for safeguarding the innocents. It is necessary to use advanced technologies and educate/train enforcement agencies for handling the accident cases with correct facts of incident. The Good Samaritan Law is a clear example in the country, as no one touched an accident victim till this law was enacted. The entire system of recording, reporting and adjudication of accidents should be a fair, truthful and impartial system for supporting innocents.Programme- 3rd Lecture -12th July 2024Photogallery Audio Recording

The International Road Federation – India Chapter (IRF-IC) recently hosted its 4th lecture as part of the ongoing Lecture Series 2.0. The focus was on "ITS Policy in India and Specifications for ATMS for Sustainable Enforcement in the Primary Network." The lecture was moderated by Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava, Executive Vice President, IRF-IC and the Guest Speakers include Mr. Harsh Nisar, Advisor (IT), NHAI and Mr. Rakesh Bhat, General Manager, Trafitek Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava who has been instrumental in ATMS specification during his stint in NHAI, welcome the Guest Speaker and set the tone for the lecture. Mr. Harsh Nisar, Advisor IT at NHAI, delivered an insightful lecture on the importance of Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) in India. He emphasized the critical role ATMS plays in reducing incident response times and preventing incidents. The system integrates physical enforcement through route patrol vehicles and digital enforcement via e-challans, with the service of 1033 being a notable example. In India, Variable Message Signs (VMS) are intended to provide dynamic information but often function like ordinary signboards. Mr. Nisar highlighted that modern cameras are not just for recording videos; they are equipped with features like detecting violations. ATMS software includes provisions for scanning videos at any point, generating incident lists for auditing, and ensuring incident management focuses on prevention.He stressed the need for a holistic approach to traffic management and mentioned that video recordings should be saved for 180 days. Given the high costs, it is essential to prioritize locations and then empower these areas with the necessary technology. Mr. Rakesh Bhat, General Manager - Business Development at Trafitek Solutions Pvt. Ltd., delivered an informative lecture on the current challenges and recommendations for Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) in India. He emphasized that the absence of standardized regulations leads to the purchase of substandard and low-quality products, compromising commuter safety. This lack of uniformity also hinders the seamless integration of various ITMS systems. The shortage of quality laboratories, evaluation authorities, and certification bodies results in the use of falsely compliant and uncertified products. Mr. Bhat proposed creating Indian Standards (IS) aligned with European standards, along with third-party audits to ensure fair implementation.Public awareness campaigns are crucial to educate citizens about the benefits of ITS and encourage their active participation. Providing platforms for public feedback and suggestions is also essential. A robust regulatory framework should outline the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, compliance requirements, and enforcement mechanisms for ITS implementation. Collaboration between government entities and private companies is encouraged to leverage expertise, technology, and investment for developing and deploying ITS solutions. Integrating ATMS with urban development plans ensures that infrastructure supports sustainable growth and mobility. Mr. Bhat noted that various challenges, such as regulatory and policy issues, operational challenges, and funding constraints, can impact the adoption and effectiveness of ATMS.Photogallery Audio Recording

The International Road Federation – India Chapter (IRF-IC) recently hosted its 5th lecture as part of the ongoing Lecture Series 2.0. The focus was on "Adoption of Technologies for Better Traffic Management and Road Safety – How and What?". The Chief Guest at the evening was Mr. Ajay Chaudhry, IPS, Special Commissioner (Traffic), Delhi Police – Traffic and the guest speakers were Dr. S. Velmurugan, Chief Scientist, CRRI, and Mr. Ravikumar D., D&E Head Smart City, Bharat Electronics Ltd. Special CP, Traffic, highlighted that Lok Adalats are becoming major hindrance for disciplining traffic violators as huge fines get reduced or totally waived off and the violators get away with small fines, which not only results in loss of revenue but also becomes major cause for further traffic violations. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kapila emphasized that promoting a safe transportation system requires a holistic approach including Engineering of roads, Engineering of vehicles, Enforcement, Education and Emergency care. These 5Es have been realized world over as pillars of success to promote road safety. The successful implementation of the 5E’s in road safety results in increased awareness, safer road infrastructure, better compliance with traffic laws, encouragement of responsible behavior, and continuous refinement of safety measures. Dr. S. Velmurugan, Chief Scientist, CRRI gave a presentation on Integration of Technology and Road Engineering and dwelt on Artificial Intelligence powered ADAS to tackle aspects like road safety, Vehicle Safety Vector and Driver Safety Performance, Mobility Safety Vector, Infrastructure Safety Vector, Education, Awareness Campaign and Emergency Care, Project iRASTE. A detailed presentation is available as part of the Lecture material in this section. Mr. Ravikumar D, D&E Head, Smart City, Bharat Electronics Ltd., gave his presentation on Sundargarh Smart City and shared the issues on highways, proposed solution for Sundargarh, technologies like Incident response and situation awareness, ANPR and Speed Detection Sensors, Road Ways Sensors, Traffic congestion detection, Over Speed Detection System, Inductive Loop Detection, etc. A detailed presentation is available as part of the lecture material in this section.ProgrammePhotogallery Audio Recording

The International Road Federation – India Chapter (IRF-IC) recently hosted its 6th lecture as part of the ongoing Lecture Series 2.0. The focus was on "Evaluation of Safety Performance of Road Infrastructure by Surrogate Measures". The Guest Speakers at the evening were Dr. P. Vedagiri, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay, Dr. S.S. Puwar, Director-Technical, Gawar Construction Limited (GCL) and Prof. Indrajit Ghosh, Professor, Civil Engineering Department, IIT Roorkee. Dr. P. Vedagiri, described the main objectives of Road Infrastructure, Haddon Matrix for Road Crash. He further highlighted the Risk factors for road traffic injury and road user diversity behavior. He explained the concept of Post Encroachment time representing the difference in time between the passages of the “offended” and “conflicted” road users over a common conflict zone (i.e. area of potential collision). Dr. S.S. Puwar, explained surrogate safety measures and pyramids of traffic events. He also highlighted his study identifying the surrogate safety measures and their use to evaluate how they affect the crash and intensity of the crash. Microsimulation is applied to extract surrogate safety measures and also develop surrogate safety assessment models (SSAM). Prof. Indrajit Ghosh, emphasized the analysis of Pedestrian Conflict with Right-Turning Vehicles at Signalized Intersections. He further described the Post Encroachment time, Time to vehicles, time to accidents, Deceleration to safety time, etc. He also pointed out the yielding Behavior of Pedestrians and Vehicles and explained the Modal Dominance Index.ProgrammePresentations by : Dr. P. VedagiriDr. S.S. PuwarProf. Indrajit GhoshPhotogallery Audio Recording

The International Road Federation – India Chapter (IRF-IC) recently hosted its 7th lecture as part of the ongoing Lecture Series 2.0. The focus was on "Something must change for better Road Safety Management in India – It is going from Bad to Worse". The Guest Speakers at the evening were Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava, Advisor, WEF & Road Safety Ambassador, IRF-IC, Mr. Naresh Raghvan, TopDriver Education LLP, Hyderabad, TS and Prof. P K Sikdar, Former Director CSIR-CRRI & Advisor IRF-IC Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava, described the Risk factors for diverse road user behavior and 5Es concept of Road Safety. He also moderated the lecture and invited the guest speakers to deliver the talk. Mr. Naresh Raghvan, explained how to Improve Road Safety via Compulsory Driver Education (CDE). He has created and published india’s first driving manuals on driver education, approved by RTA. He has also created audio-visual driver education courses in english and hindi which are available to general public on udemy.com. He highlighted 50 basic Road Rules which need enforcement & education. Prof. P K Sikdar, emphasized on Safe System Approach for Road Safety. He further described the concept of 5 Es of Road Safety including - Engineering of roads, Engineering of vehicles, Education & Campaign, Enforcement (24x7 enforcement) & Emergency care. He pointed out the reasons as to why Road Safety was not improving in India.Presentations by : Prof. P.K.Sikdar Mr. Naresh RaghvanPhotogalleryRecording