Experts for safer road design to avoid accidents

New Delhi, March 5: Global road safety experts stressed on the need for better road and vehicle designs to reduce number of accident cases worldwide.

Speaking at a two day international workshop here on 'Dangers in Road Usage', the experts called for shared responsibility for reducing fatal road accidents and stressed on the need road safety.

The workshop that started on Thursday is being organised by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) and the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D), Ministry of Home Affairs, in partnership with the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).

"The United Nations conventions on road safety should be adhered and all road crashes should be investigated on scientific factors instead of making driver responsible for each crash . The responsibility of road safety should be shared by improving road engineering and safety in vehicles" said Jeffery Micheal, former associate highway transport safety administration in the US.

According to Mike Fell, Crash investigation and Enforcement specialist, in India traffic safety and enforcement is not given priority, the main reason for world's largest accidents taking place in India.

"This country needs better traffic management," Fell said at inaugural session.

About 200 police official's, legal officers, and prosecutors from various parts of India, US, UK, The Netherlands and Finland are taking part in the workshop.

The main aim of the workshop is to improve road safety by clearly recognising and defining accident causation in relation to drivers and other road users, vehicles, road infrastructure and identifying issues in the existing 'Codes of Practice'.

"This would help law enforcement agencies and judiciary in building a safe road environment in the country and enhance road safety. Case studies along with the associated legal instruments from India and other countries will be presented towards achieving the objective of enhancing road safety," said Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE).

According to Baluja, during the Workshop, a special session is being organised to address the interaction between drivers of taxis and school buses who have received training under this initiative, and the participants of the workshop.