NEW DELHI: As part of the efforts to reduce injuries and deaths due to road crashes and make the city roads accident-free, the Delhi government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Save Life Foundation for four more years. It has also decided to extend its 'Zero Fatality Corridor' model to the other parts of the city.
Under the partnership, eight blackspots and five Accident-Prone Zones from different districts of the city will be made safer over the next two years on the lines of the Zero Fatality Corridor model’s 4Es- road safety: Engineering, Enforcement, Emergency Care and Education.
The transport department in 2018 entered into an agreement with the foundation for road safety and launched the model as a pilot project to make Delhi accident free, safe and secure for pedestrians and motorists.
The team identified blackspots on Outer Ring Road and a trial was conducted at Bhalswa Chowk to undertake necessary interventions to reduce road crashes on the deadly intersection. After the identification of blackspots, the accident prone Bhalswa Chowk on Outer Ring Road was redesigned and successfully created an improved scenario of safe mobility, visible throughout the junction.
The project recorded 100 per cent reduction in road crash deaths through a 70 per cent reduction in pedestrian exposure distance, reducing pedestrian vulnerability to conflict, crashes and near-crashes, further 12,000 people including school children from the vicinity were engaged during the trials.
Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, "Delhi saw 1463 fatal accidents in 2019. Even in the pre-COVID scenario, there was a decrease of 13.5 per cent in the number of fatal accidents as compared to the previous year and the fatality rate has decreased by 13.43 per cent. Through this initiative, our aim is to make Delhi roads amongst the safest in the country."