'Stray cattle area ahead...': NHAI launches pilot project for real-time safety alert

During the pilot project, to ensure effective communication with National Highway commuters, safety advisories will be delivered through a Flash SMS, followed by a voice alert in Hindi.

New Delhi: Aimed at reducing accidents caused by sudden cattle movement on National Highways particularly during fog and low-visibility conditions, the NHAI on Wednesday said it has launched a pilot project in two NH corridors for real-time stray cattle safety alert.

The pilot project is being implemented on the Jaipur-Agra and Jaipur-Rewari NH corridors. As part of this initiative, Reliance Jio has upgraded its platform to enable nationwide delivery of these real-time stray cattle safety alerts, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said in a statement.

Last month, NHAI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Reliance Jio to introduce a telecom-based safety alert system across the National Highway network.

"Under the pilot project, location-based alerts will be triggered for the National Highway commuters, providing advance warnings approximately 10 km before identified high-risk stretches. This will provide commuters with some lead time to take precautionary measures," NHAI said.

During the pilot project, to ensure effective communication with National Highway commuters, safety advisories will be delivered through a Flash SMS, followed by a voice alert.

The Flash SMS alert will be issued in Hindi, stating: "Aage awara pashu grasht kshetra hai. Krupaya dhire aur sawadhani se chalein" (stray cattle area ahead. Please drive slowly and carefully) followed by a voice alert conveying the same safety message, it added.

To prevent alert fatigue, repeat alerts will not be issued to the same user within a 30-minute window. The initiative will leverage telecom technology to deliver timely, targeted advisories, thereby improving driver awareness and enhancing safety on National Highways, the statement said.

Alerts will be generated based on mapped cattle-prone zones identified from historical accident data and field-level inputs, and delivered via the upgraded telecom infrastructure.

Based on the outcomes and effectiveness of the pilot, NHAI said it will evaluate the possibility of scaling up this initiative to other stray cattle–prone zones, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve road safety and enhance user experience on National Highways across the country.