IIT-M hosts Road Safety Summit with city traffic police
Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena pointed out, “In 2021, over 4.12 lakh accidents occurred, leading to more than 3.84 lakh injured and almost 1.54 lakh fatalities.
CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras’s Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS) partnered with the Greater Chennai Police (GCTP) to host ‘Road Safety Summit 2023’.
The institute, in a release, said that accidents and emergencies have been the deadliest causes for an alarming increase in deaths and the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in India.
According to the data released by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for 2021, road accident deaths in rural India (1,00,038) were almost twice that of urban India (51,379). In many cases, the wreckage makes it difficult to extricate victims within the ‘platinum 10 minutes’.
Rendering timely medical aid is prevented, which leads to preventable fatalities.
The evacuation requires specialised training, equipment, and techniques for vehicle extrication, which is where the recently-launched Veera (Vehicle for Extrication and Emergency Rescue in Accidents) plays a crucial role. Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore, said, “Veera is designed to address the gap when cops reach an accident spot quickly but are, sometimes, unable to rescue the victims.”
Highlighting the need for such initiatives, Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena pointed out, “In 2021, over 4.12 lakh accidents occurred, leading to more than 3.84 lakh injured and almost 1.54 lakh fatalities. Our State had 55,682 accidents and 1 lakh fatalities the same year. These figures are quite alarming.”
