According to the WHO Global Report on Road Safety 2018, India accounts for more number of fatal crashes among the 199 countries. It also reveals that National Highways which comprises 1.94% percent of the total road network which contributes to 30.2 percent of total road crashes and 35.7 percent fatal crashes in 2018, whereas, state highways account for 26.8 percent of total fatal crashes. In the light of this, the Government of India, through the National Road Safety Policy, promotes various measures to minimize road crashes by adopting “Road Safety Audit” and taking measures to review standards about safety in the design of highways and bring them in consonance with international best practices keeping in view Indian traffic conditions.
To further this mandate one workshop & webinar titled “ Road Safety Issue and Challenges” has been organized by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Kalpana Chawla Chair of Geospatial Technology at Punjab Engineering College (PEC) Chandigarh, and one of the promising startup in highway engineering i.e. Civilfied Infra Consultants (P) Ltd, Panchkula has partnered in this workshop. During the inaugural session, Sh. Mahabir Singh (Member Technical NHAI) and Sh. R.P. Singh (Regional Officer NHAI) discussed various steps taken by NHAI to mitigate road accidents. Dr. Sewa Ram (Faculty SPA Delhi) discussed factors used for road geometry and junctions and emphasized the role of engineers. Dr. Navdeep Asija (Traffic Advisor Punjab Govt) shared steps taken by the Punjab Govt to increase road safety. Dr. H.M.Naqvi (CGM NHAI) gave an overview of technical measures to improve road safety. Dr. Divya Bansal (Professor PEC) shared different indigenous technologies to make safer roads. Sh. Arbab Ahmed (Team Head Punjab Vision Zero) presented case studies related to road safety.
The event was very informative and attended by more than 400 participants (online) from across India. In the concluding session, Sh S.K. Gupta (Manager) and Sh. Manoj Saxena discussed the use of such types of events. They also appreciated and congratulated the coordinators of the event Dr. Har Amrit Singh Sandhu (Faculty PEC), Mrs. Priyanka Meena (Manager NHAI), and Er. Abhinav (Founder and Owner CIC) and their team.
