BENGALURU: “Road safety is a critical but overlooked issue in India, where every fatality is preventable. While Western countries aim for zero deaths, India lags behind,” said Bangalore City Police Commissioner B Dayananda. He also suggested that vehicle manufacturers develop solutions like a two-wheeler which starts only if the rider wears a helmet, and a four-wheeler starts only after seatbelts are fastened.
He was sharing his views during a technical session at the 25th annual convention of the Society for Automotive Fitness & Environment (SAFE), an initiative of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which is held with the theme ‘Smart Mobility: Integrating Safety with Sustainability’, here on Wednesday.
Responsible road behaviour must become habitual, and there is need better education to achieve this. Educating the younger generation is key, as reliance on enforcement alone is insufficient, the top cop said. He stated that traffic police are doing a commendable job by tracking traffic violations with the help of artificial intelligence and generating challans.
Stating that the future of public transport lies in innovation, and Karnataka’s vast network of 25,000 buses is at the forefront of this transformation, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) MD V Anbu Kumar stated at another session, titled ‘Emerging Trends in Vehicular Technology’, “If all buses under public bus corporations are put together, there are more than 1.6 lakh buses in India. On an average, 20,000 buses which clock 8 lakh kilometers are scrapped every year and it is a huge market for vehicle manufacturers. However, when public buses needs upgradation, we don’t have many options.”
He urged vehicle manufacturers to give multiple options in terms of vehicle seating, height of the bus floor from the ground, colours, aesthetics and other options, so that bus corporations like KSRTC can customise whichever suits their passengers best, and upgrade their bus fleet.
Pressing on the need for modernisation, Kumar said, “Beyond 12-metre buses, there is no major penetration. If we have 13.5-metre long buses, we can add more seats and increase carrying capacity.”