Fatalities, serious injuries on Indian roads can be avoided if safety measures are implemented: Experts

Road safety experts on Thursday expressed concerns on the rise in accident-related deaths in the country and stressed on the need to embed safety features while planning and designing roads to avoid fatalities and serious injuries.

They further called for ensuring implementation of such safety features by the road construction companies.

India accounts for more than 11 per cent of global road accident deaths mainly due to absence of safety measures, former director of Central Road Research Institute P K Sikdar said at an event organised by International Road Federation (India chapter). Many fatalities and serious injuries on Indian roads could have been avoided if several recommended road safety actions had been implemented, he said, adding that road safety audits are still not practised uniformly in the country.

Also, speaking at the event, International Road Federation President Emeritus K K Kapila said Intelligence Transportation Systems (ITS) should be used to improve the efficiency and safety of road transport, traffic management, mobility, etc.

ITS technology is being adopted across the world to increase the capacity of busy roads and reduce journey times, he added.