IIT-M to develop data-driven strategies to enhance road safety in TN

The outcomes of this workshop will be used to help a focused action plan and be used as a policy advisory to help reduce road accidents and fatalities in TN

Researchers at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) are in the process of developing data-driven strategies to enhance road safety in Tamil Nadu through clear long-term policies and strategies for making the state ‘accident-free’.

As the first step, a workshop with various stakeholders including the Police, Health, Transport, Road owning agencies, Education, Rural Development, and local self-government was conducted on October 12.

The outcomes of this workshop will be used to help a focused action plan and be used as a policy advisory to help reduce road accidents and fatalities in Tamil Nadu, the IIT-M said.

The researchers are expected to come up with clear long term policies and strategies for moving towards an ‘accident-free Tamil Nadu’, short term strategies to improve road safety and minimise road traffic accidents from November 2021 to January 2022, and modalities for sharing and utilising the data available with stakeholder departments for collective action in ensuring road safety.

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“This workshop is the first of many such design-thinking based strategizing workshops for road safety. This coordinated knowledge sharing session among all the road safety stakeholders in Tamil Nadu will be a pathway to continuously evolve successful road safety policies in the State,” Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said.

Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Faculty In-Charge, Centre of Excellence for Human Factors and Safety Science @ RBG Labs, IIT-M said avoiding accidents and fatalities in accidents is an essential requirement to be a developed nation.

“While TN has been performing well on reducing the fatalities from road accidents, in 2021, after the lockdown there has been a steady increase in fatalities. Therefore, it is quintessential to develop a good strategy based on data to address this on a priority basis,” Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian said.

Prof. Ravindra Gettu, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT-M said the Action plan that has been drawn up is expected to make a significant impact on fatalities and road safety in general, especially due to the involvement of all stakeholders concerned through a design thinking approach.

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