Chandigarh, Oct 4 (PTI) The Centre of Excellence for Road Safety — a Central government organisation — is in collaboration with the IIT Madras launching a special project in Haryana to bring together the best practices in road safety, develop systems and provide data-driven advice to all stakeholders and the public, said Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Wednesday.
Presiding over a meeting for implementation of the road safety interventions here, Kaushal said Haryana has been selected for this project from among the seven states of Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu for evaluation of the effectiveness of road safety interventions.
The comprehensive set of interventions to be implemented in these states encompass a variety of road safety measures, including effective speed calming measures, comprehensive road safety surveys, behavioral monitoring, shoulder width evaluation, structured crash investigations, innovative enforcement, awareness programmes and trauma centre enhancement, he said according to an official statement.
The chief secretary said Haryana is embarking on a series of transformative projects aimed at saving lives on its roads and bolstering healthcare services.
The key stakeholders, including road agencies and relevant departments, have engaged in comprehensive appraisals, he added.
Kaushal highlighted the state government’s integration of ambulances with the ‘112’ emergency helpline to provide timely medical assistance to the road accident victims.
A fleet of 670 ambulances has been integrated with the helpline for a swift transport of trauma patients to the medical facilities, said Kaushal.
Automatic registration procedures in certain hospitals further expedite the process, ensuring that no time is wasted in critical situations, he added.
Haryana is actively working to enhance healthcare accessibility, particularly for the trauma patients, said Kaushal, adding the state has established Ayushman Bharat hospitals, medical colleges and tertiary-level medical care centres in the districts in accordance with the Centre’s guidelines.
The chief secretary said the objective is to ensure that trauma patients do not need to travel more than 50 km to receive essential medical treatment.
Kaushal said the state, while recognising the importance of education and awareness, has already introduced road safety subjects in the school curricula.
These subjects aim to educate the students, particularly those in Class 11 and 12 grades who often start travelling independently on the roads, about responsible road behaviour, he said.
The chief secretary said the plans are underway to train a dedicated workforce of young volunteers from the National Service Scheme and the National Cadet Corps to further spread awareness and enhance road safety.
Professor Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Head, Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS), IIT Madras, said the opportunity lies in the collective commitment to work ceaselessly to reduce road crash fatalities by 50 per cent by 2030 and to ultimately bering them down to zero by 2040.
This can be achieved through the implementation of data-driven policies that span the entire spectrum of the transportation system, encompassing engineering, enforcement, emergency care and education, he added. PTI SUN AS AS VN VN
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