FTI Consulting was engaged by Intel to help curate a multi-stakeholder discussion and prepare this report, by bringing together diverse perspectives and recommendations from different stakeholders to improve road safety in India.
FTI Consulting organised two closed-door, multi-stakeholder consultations on February 22, 2023 and March 2, 2023 and drew inputs from around 20 stakeholders as well as iRASTE Road Safety project, driven by Nagpur Municipal Corporation, CSIR-CRRI, Mahindra & Mahindra, INAI — an applied artificial intelligence (AI) research center, IIIT-Hyderabad and Intel. The Project iRASTE has already demonstrated positive impact of advanced driver assistance systems in reducing accidents and mitigating black spots and grey spots. Leveraging the power of AI, Project iRASTE aims to achieve up to 50 percent decline in road accidents in Nagpur city and create a blueprint for India toward Vision Zero accident scenario.
Key highlights and recommendations from the Road Safety report include:
1) Developing a roadmap for road safety tech adoption, starting with school buses and commercial vehicles carrying hazardous materials (HazMat).
2) Installation and retrofits of road safety devices on legacy vehicles recommended as an affordable pathway, given the cost implications of safety technology policy mandates.
3) For the school buses category, stakeholders recommended defining basic minimum safety levels that are practical, cost-effective and can be adhered to by all, especially less privileged schools.
4) Driver upskilling and retraining was identified among both vehicle categories suggesting continuous monitoring and data-based training as the need of the hour.
5) Creation of specialized category of drivers for both HazMat and school buses. These drivers should be well trained, and the AI-based and data-based advanced-driver assisted road safety technologies would ensure continuous training on the fly.