Summary
Organised by CTRANS, first lecture in series delivered by International Road Federation (India Chapter) advisor and ICT president P K Sikdar
Memorial lecture series named after Dr L R Kadiyali, a well-known personality in the field of transportation
The Centre for Transportation Systems (CTRANS) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee organised the first of the Dr L R Kadiyali Memorial Lecture Series on November 12 with a talk on ‘Road Safety Management – A National Priority’.
The first lecture was delivered by International Road Federation (India Chapter) advisor P K Sikdar, who is also president, ICT Pvt Ltd and former director, Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), New Delhi.
The talk was attended by IIT Roorkee deputy director Manoranjan Parida; CTRANS head Durga Toshniwal; professors B R Gurjar, S N Rangnekar, U K Roy and S Sadhukhan; faculty members, MTech and PhD students of the institute; as well as various personalities from academia.
The lecture included topics like how India has the dubious distinction of having the highest road fatalities in a year ̶ which is nearly 11% of all road deaths in the world ̶ and why road safety management is the fundamental pillar of the global plan for improving road safety performance by systematic and planned approach.
The UN General Assembly has approved the Second Decade of Action to reduce the global road fatalities and serious injuries by 50% by 2030, aligning the target with sustainable development goals.
Speaking during the lecture, Sikdar said, “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.”
He added, “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 focusing actions on multiple fronts as well as on targeted results.”
Sikdar, who is also an expert for R&D management for Road and Road Transport Sector for more than four decades, elaborated on India’s efforts to address this issue, saying, “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 region. Thus, safety is produced just like any other goods and services and a management system is required at three levels: the institutional management responsible to plan and design interventions, which in turn produce the desired results.”
Parida said, “The ideas shared by professor Sikdar not only resonate with the belief behind Dr L R Kadiyali Memorial Lecture Series but also give a concept for the future programmes for road safety management in India. It is time for the country to seriously focus on the adoption of advanced technologies and multidimensional approaches to mitigate road accidents, he added.
The memorial lecture series is named after Dr L R Kadiyali, a well-known personality in the field of transportation. CTRANS aims to evolve a holistic approach for study of transport systems in order to promote multidisciplinary research and education for manpower development in all kinds of transportation systems.
Last updated on 12 Nov 2021
