Road safety and India

BANGALORE, INDIA: Several reports have been published over the years on road safety issues across various mediums and all point towards one single fact that road accidents will emerge as one of the biggest safety risk to the world community in the coming years. 

Each year, reportedly more than 1.17 million people die in road crashes across the globe and the majority of these deaths are reported from the developing nations. India, along with China, is listed among countries with the highest number of deaths. Sixty-five per cent of these deaths are of pedestrians, of which 35 per cent are children, who are our future generations.

This leads to an estimation that at least 6 million more will die and 60 million will be injured during the next 10 years in developing countries from road crash unless something is done to drastically change the current state of affairs. This in turn will have serious implications on the medical infrastructure as well.

The facts are disturbing and I believe, as a technologist, that we do possess some solutions to create an environment that will not only solve these problems but also help us create a safer world and mitigate road accidents.  While the problem of road safety is not typical to any nation but tackling the same is far more difficult in a developing country.

The researchers are coming up with innovative technologies to improve the driving experience for the car occupant while ensuring that the quantum of road crash can be brought down. Some of the technologies may simply not work in a varied environment if implemented without taking into consideration the environmental challenges.

The invention of three- point seat belt, airbag, electronic stability control are one of the few innovations that the automotive industry has been consistently involved in to encourage safer and greener motoring. Although all of these are mandatory in developed countries, these regulations are not fully implemented and adhered to in developing countries.

First and foremost is for regulatory bodies to make these compulsory in all vehicles and also force the laws of safety.  In addition to these the industry in constantly evolving safety standards to not only make the occupants of the car safe but also the people on the roads.

Many cars today are connected to the web which is majorly for infotainment however this can be used to implement many modern technology that can save valued lives. Some of the technologies like Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) that provide 360-degree situational awareness, allows vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication  and can be effectively used for traffic management and control systems, electronic toll collection, route navigation systems and many more areas.

Similarly, the Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) that is used to inform the driver of the speed limit for the road they are travelling on and automatically reduce the speed of the vehicle can very well benefit our country where every passing day one hear a case of high speed collision in a stationery vehicle on expressways.

Another technology that can be implemented is e-call, which automatically alerts the emergency services to the location of an accident. While this system is used widely in many countries, implementation of this in our nation can help save people who die for the want of emergency services on time at the accident sites.

So be it the Inter-vehicle communication, Ethernet-based parking assistance solutions, vehicles equipped with crash-avoidance technologies, intelligent sensor for car battery monitoring, Blind-spot detection, Night vision, the industry is gearing up in accepting the challenges and coming up with solution that will have an overall impact on the safety of the passengers while encouraging us to contribute towards building greener planet by reducing congestion and emissions.

We are taking about the technologies that are currently available and auto manufacturer don’t have to invest much in bringing them here. Though care needs to be taken to ensure that the technology is designed in the right manner and takes care of specific environmental challenges. What is also required are enough legal frameworks to ensure their inclusion in the traffic safety initiative planned by the Government and a well coordinated work between all those involved in the implementation.

I read a story in which Alan Taub, GM's vice president of global R&D, at the recently concluded CES said, "The vehicle whose DNA was set 100 years ago – four wheels, mechanically driven, internal combustion engine – cannot be the DNA for the 21st century”. With the refined technologies that are available with us, the avenues are unlimited, what is left now is putting the jig-saw together to deliver the unimaginable power on the road that values human life.

(Guruswamy Ganesh is the VP and Country Manager of Freescale Semiconductor India)