Society for Automotive Fitness & Environment Convention 2018 concludes with laying special emphasis on road safety

The theme for this year's convention was “Enforcement, Intelligent Transportation and Training for Safer Roads”, which was aimed at addressing the safety hazards that our roads present due to lack of road safety awareness.

The SAFE convention was organised to share the best practices adopted by government and private organisations in areas of vehicular safety, technology innovations, and standards for enhancing road safety.

The convention was attended by prominent guests from the ministry and delegates from different backgrounds.

Naveen Soni, President, Society for Automotive Fitness & Environment (SAFE), welcomed the chief guests, dignitaries and delegates.

During the inaugural session, Guests of Honour, Neeti Sarkar, CEO & PD, NATRiP, along with Ashutosh Agnihotri, IAS, Commissioner & Secretary (Transport, Industries & Commerce & Skill, Employment & Entrepreneurship Department), Government of Assam addressed the delegates.

Agnihotri thanks Automobile manufacturers to organised Road Safety Conference at Guwahati and requested all corporates to plan for year long activities across Assam to improve the situation of road  safety.

Speaking on the occasion, Assam Forest minister Parimal Suklabaidya said that, "In our country, we have vehicles with new and best technology and we are trying to make them safer."

"We are working in the area of technology for vehicles and for road safety. It is our responsibility to lay emphasis on spreading awareness on road safety as our moral duty. The drivers need to understand the importance of being sensible on roads. The drivers must ensure that their awareness and sensible driving skills can prevent a road fatality. We are working towards initiating better driver training workshops for ensuring we have safer roads," Suklabaidya said.

Speaking at the convention, Naveen Soni, President, SAFE said that, road safety is of utmost importance to us.

"The onus for making our roads safe is on us on us as it is on the regulators. We as manufacturers, apart from ensuring the technical safety aspects in vehicles also invest in creating and spreading awareness about safety. Government intervention and industry participation will be the key to building a robust and sustainable road safety model. Automobiles manufacturers are extensively trying to implement various initiatives in the area of improving road safety," Soni said.

P.K. Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM said that, "With the socio-economic progress of the country happening at such a rapid pace, it is important for road safety measures to also evolve with the times and ensure that the all citizens are covered and safe. We have been working with the government towards holding awareness building workshops across the country as well as introduction of accident, data analytics and implementation of technology based solutions in traffic management. There have been a number of successful programs held across the country that have made some significant difference. Training programs are also being organised to make drivers more aware. SIAM SAFE is working towards ensuring these programs are driven with an agenda of ‘Building the Nation, Responsibly’."

Three different technical sessions were organised during the convention which focussed on safety.

The first technical session highlighted the successful projects on Road Safety implemented by Enforcement Agencies.

During the first session, Rakesh Kumar, IAS, Transport Commissioner, Transport Department, Government of Assam, students Anil Chhikara, MLO, Transport Department, Government of NCT Delhi; Sanjay Sasane & Yogesh Bag, Transport Department, Government of Maharashtra and Prerna Singh, Centre for Road Safety, Sardar Patel University of Police Rajasthan,  presented their insights to all delegates.

The second technical session laid emphasis on safety as a top priority.

Traffic planning is one of the strongest steps which will assist in safer and cleaner environment. This session focussed on steps taken in planning the traffic by usage of intelligent transportation and accident data analysis.

During this session, Anand Narayanan, Sitikantha Padhy, Manager, ADAC, NATRiP, N Balasubrahmanian, Dy. Vice President; Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre, India and Anubrata Choudhary, Sr. Manager, IAMHere24x7, shared insights on the ITS usage in traffic planning and accident analysis system required for bringing the reduction in road fatalities on roads.

The third technical session drew attention towards the importance of training. This session focussed on driver training and other projects which spreads knowledge in the area road safety and environment.

During this session, Mohammed Ali , Head DTI Kaithal, Ashok Leyland Ltd; Arun Lakshman, Asst. General Manager, IDTR, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd; Prabhu Nagraj, Vice President, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd; Abhijit Kumar Mandal, National Institute for Automotive Inspection, Maintenance and Training (NIAIMT), Silchar and Prashant Chopra, National Safety Head, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. presented their views on the importance of training the drivers.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)