Independent, isolated actions cannot produce sustainable result in road safety improvement: Expert

New Delhi: Independent and isolated actions cannot produce sustainable results in road safety improvement and only a structured and multi-sectoral plan can be helpful to achieve the desired results, according to PK Sikdar, Advisor, International Road Federation (India Chapter).

Delivering a lecture on ”Road Safety Management — A National Priority” as part of the ”LR Kadiyali Memorial Lecture Series” at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, Sikdar said road safety management is the first and fundamental pillar of the global plan for improving road safety performance through a systematic and planned approach.

”Those countries, which have been able to show positive results in road safety outcomes, have managed it by a structured and multi-sectoral action plan implemented under strict guidelines and a highly coordinated format. No independent and isolated action has ever produced sustainable results in road safety improvement,” Sikdar said.

”The globally proven and accepted safe system approach can provide a comprehensive and logical action for deriving maximum benefit. Of course, to have such a framework implemented in a coordinated way, the institutional management role must be derived from the management capacity by focussing actions on multiple fronts as well as on targeted results,” he added.

Elaborating on India’s efforts to address the issue, Sikdar, who is also an expert in research and management in the road and transport sector, said, ”A road safety management framework has already been developed, which identifies effective ways and elements of management that are crucial for improving road safety performance in a country or a region.

”Thus, safety is produced just like any other goods and services and a management system is required at multiple levels with the institutional management responsible to plan and design interventions, which in turn produce the desired results.”