IRF India promotes road safety education in India to reduce casualties

Road safety education is an important ingredient in improving road safety, reducing accidents, and fatalities from these accidents. IRF India had been focusing on promoting road safety education in India. As part of its efforts, IRF India has focused on road safety education for both adults and children. For adults, IRF India has produced a series of eight films to promote safe behaviour. These films cover cover topics such as the need to use seat belts, drinking and driving, use of mobile phones while
February 6, 2018 Read time: 3 mins

Road safety education is an important ingredient in improving road safety, reducing accidents, and fatalities from these accidents.

2462 IRF India had been focusing on promoting road safety education in India. As part of its efforts, IRF India has focused on road safety education for both adults and children. For adults, IRF India has produced a series of eight films to promote safe behaviour. These films cover cover topics such as the need to use seat belts, drinking and driving, use of mobile phones while driving, adhering to traffic rules, helping victims of traffic accidents, safe behaviour of pedestrians, and awareness about road signs. These films are being screened prior to the regular programming by PVR Cinemas on 553 screens, at 122 locations, in 48 Indian cities. In addition to the screening of these films in the PVR cinemas, IRF India has also sought the help of the Government of India to screen these films through government-owned media channels.

Another important IRF India initiative has been the institution of the road safety award for journalists. This award recognises the efforts of journalists (both for print and electronic media) to raise awareness about road safety issues among the public at large, and in the consciousness of policymakers and politicians.

Finally, regarding promoting road safety education among adults, a key element in saving lives is providing accident victims with appropriate first aid at the location of the accident itself, prior to the arrival of the emergency response services (in many countries outside Europe, North America and Australia these emergency services are not very well developed). IRF India has undertaken a massive programme to train truck drivers in administering first aid to accident victims.  So far, almost 15,000 truck drivers have been trained in India. This programme is now being extended, together with India’s National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), to educate individuals living in the proximity of national highways to administer first aid to accident victims at the accident location itself.

IRF’s efforts to promote road safety education among Indian children have been two-pronged: 1) practical education on safe road use behaviour, and 2) imparting knowledge about road safety via course materials. The practical training helps children understand where and how to move on roads, how to cross roads, understand road signs, and how to use bicycles on roads.

IRF India has, together with the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), developed a road safety curriculum for schools. The key feature of this curriculum is that it incorporates road safety into the existing curriculum for various subjects, so road safety is taught as an integral part of the existing curricula for classes VI to X (children aged between 11 to 16 years) to develop a culture of road safety among children. These materials have been incorporated into the curriculum teaching of Hindi, English, Science, Social Science and Mathematics.

Related Content

  • Workzone safety protects workforce and drivers
    May 3, 2012
    Highway construction work zones are dangerous places, and anything that can improve safety is welcomed as Patrick Smith reports. The safe and efficient flow of traffic through work zones is a major concern to transportation officials, industry, the public, businesses, and commercial motor carriers. This is the view of the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which has developed the Highway Work Zone Safety Program to reduce the fatalities and injurious crashes in work zones, and to enhance traffic oper
    Read More
  • Motorcycle-Guardrail Crashes: How can the risk of severe injury and fatality be reduced?
    July 23, 2012
    The problem: motorcyclist fatalities can occur from a variety of accidents. But in the United States in 2005, motorcyclists comprised 42% of fatalities due to guardrail collisions, whereas only 3% of vehicles on the roads were motorcycles (Gabler, 2007). More motorcyclists were killed in guardrail collisions than passengers of any other vehicle type in 2005 (Gabler, 2007). Guardrails cannot simply be removed to protect motorcyclists. However, improvements need to be made in several areas in order to keep mo
    Read More
  • John Hopkins report: iRAP boosts safety
    May 17, 2024
    A paper and report from Johns Hopkins University suggests that 700,000 deaths and severe injuries have been prevented through road safety projects using the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) methodology.
    Read More
  • EVENT: wildlife-vehicle collision reduction
    May 9, 2024
    A symposium this month in Sydney by the Australasian Network for Ecology and Transportation (ANET) and the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) will explore how new and emerging technologies are helping reduce the millions of mammal deaths annually – an estimated four million in Australia alone.
    Read More

Highlighted Content