VARS 2022
India Vision Institute hosts VARS 2022 conference, prioritises policy for safer roads
Kolkata/IBNS: Large-scale social organisations India Vision Institute (IVI), Sightsavers India and VisionSpring on Thursday kicked off VARS 2022 with an emphasis on correlating vision and road safety and the need for inclusion of a primary target in the national road safety policy.
During the first day of the event, IVI's CEO Vinod Daniel said, "The vision and road safety conference has brought together all key stakeholders to discuss the important issue of vision, road safety and prevention of serious and fatal road accidents.
"It is great to partner with Sightsavers India and VisionSpring, and encouraging to see the participation of so many other vision care partners who all have the same focus to make our roads safer."
“Over two days, the online conference will have senior international and national experts participate as keynote speakers and in panel discussions,” he added.
The discussions focused on overcoming barriers in vision and road safety, strengthening policies, and strategies for road safety and vision care.
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Ella Rain Gudwin, CEO of VisionSpring, Global, said: “To date, road safety interventions have focused on seat belts, speed, alcohol, road design, and overloading. Today, we are going to talk about an additional solution that is hiding in plain sight – eyeglasses. They are a simple, powerful, scalable tool to help drivers avoid hazards on the road and save lives.”
Sightsavers India CEO, RN Mohanty said, “Sightsavers realises the importance of eye health in ensuring road safety. Eye health is not accessible to many who don’t have the means and awareness. Our National Truckers Eye Health Programme—RAAHI seeks to make eye health accessible to the overworked truck drivers.
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"Research over the past few decades has addressed the role of vision in driver safety (motor vehicle collision involvement) and in driver performance."
The other notable speakers were Dr Meleckidzedeck Khayesi, Department of Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), Prof. Praveen Vashisht, Office-in Charge for Dr. R. P. Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, and Peter Holland, CEO at International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).
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