Drive Safe India Initiative: Improving Safety of Truck Drivers and Goods Transport

In India, more than 11% of all fatalities from traffic accidents, or over 16,000 lives, involve commercial vehicles Given the loss of life, and the costs of damage to goods and property, there is an urgent need to reduce, and eventually eliminate this unnecessary loss of life. Shell, Michelin, and IRF Geneva have come together with a new initiative "Drive Safe India" (www.drivesafeindia.org) to improve all aspects of safety associated with transport of goods on Indian roads. The goal of the Drive Safe Ind
July 14, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

In India, more than 11% of all fatalities from traffic accidents, or over 16,000 lives, involve commercial vehicles

Given the loss of life, and the costs of damage to goods and property, there is an urgent need to reduce, and eventually eliminate this unnecessary loss of life.

763 Shell, 720 Michelin, and 1201 IRF Geneva have come together with a new initiative "Drive Safe India" (www.drivesafeindia.org) to improve all aspects of safety associated with transport of goods on Indian roads.

The goal of the Drive Safe India Initiative is to develop a voluntary industry code to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities by transforming:

1) commercial vehicle standards, 2) driver care and training, 3) vehicle financing, 4) insurance, and 5) road haulage contracts. As part of this initiative, a database of "safe" drivers and haulage companies will be developed. The industry code will be based on pan-India research and best practices from around the world. The impact of this initiative will be monitored using real time and collected data.

Once ready, the Drive Safe India Code will be adopted and used by the participating partners and is expected to become an industry standard used by the majority of, if not all, corporates, across all sectors of the Indian economy. The adoption of this code is expected to lead to a large reduction in the number of truck accidents and associated fatalities.

In the coming months, the launch partners of the Drive Safe India Initiative will seek to increase the number of partners to join this initiative.

The Drive Safe India Code will be formally launched at CROSSROADS World Road Meeting 2017 that is to be held in Delhi, India from 14 – 17 November 2017.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The IRF is committed to Africa’s Transport Agenda
    March 13, 2014
    Regional Congress to take place June 4-6 in Abuja, Nigeria The 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition created opportunities for stakeholder discussions around global as well as regional agendas. More than 50 participants representing heads of government agencies, development partners, academia, and contractors took part in an interactive roundtable discussion on the supply and provision of transport infrastructure on the African continent. Topics ranging from safety to the qualifications needed for th
    Read More
  • New driver video systems could cut crashes
    May 13, 2014
    A study into new technologies by The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) in the US reveals that advanced video systems could cut crashes. VTTI’s report analysed collisions involving heavy trucks and buses and found that Lytx’s video-based driver safety system could save lives and reduce injuries. The study concluded that heavy trucks and buses using the DriveCam powered by Lytx Program could reduce fatalities, collisions and injuries. “If driver behavior is the primary reason for traffic crashes,
    Read More
  • Rebuilding the Human Dimension
    June 18, 2012
    We meet with Dr. Essam Sharaf, the former Prime Minister of Egypt, who has been honoured as IRF Personality of the Year for 2011 On 28 March, at a moving ceremony packed with IRF friends and delegates from all over the world, the IRF Personality of the Year Award for 2011 was formally presented to Dr. Essam Abdel-Aziz Sharaf. Discerned annually since 1951, the Award honours individuals universally acknowledged as having made particularly inspirational contributions to the fields of road infrastructure and
    Read More
  • Cutting congestion and improving transportation
    March 1, 2017
    CartoConsult is now working on a project to develop technology intended to reduce traffic congestion and improve transport services. This work forms part of a £4 million Department for Transport (DfT) initiative and the mapping software technology company has been selected by Swindon Borough Council, together with IT and networking company Cisco. This will be used to deliver an alert system for traffic managers to supply information on congestion.
    Read More

Highlighted Content