World Economic Forum launched a much-awaited Road Safety 2.0 program in India, in association with the Government of India, Niti Aayog and MoRTH. This aims to introduce technology into all 4Es of road safety i.e., Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency care.
The Road Safety 2.0 is a flagship project of the World Economic Forum’s Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI) in partnership with FIA & WIAA under the banner of the Road Safety Partnership in India (RSPI).
Road Safety 2.0, aims to introduce technology into all 4Es of road safety i.e., Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency care, each of which has been severely ignored for decades.
Over 70 participants encompassing all the stakeholders of road safety wholeheartedly showed their support for the project. Stakeholders included UN Special Envoy, World Bank, and Indian Government World Bank, FIA, Government of India Ministries, Industry leaders, corporate houses, National Highway Authority of India, State Transport Commissioners, Western India Automobile Association (WIAA), Highway Operators, Vehicle Manufacturers, Society of Indian Automobiles (SIAM), Tech Start-Ups such as HumSafer Driver Safety Foundation, Insurance companies, Hospital chains, All India Motor Congress among other road safety experts.
According to a World Road Safety report in 2018, India ranks 1st amongst 199 countries in terms of the number of road fatalities, with 11 % of the global road fatalities taking place in India alone. In the past one decade over 1 million people have lost their lives to road crashes. The majority of them were young and came from low economic backgrounds. This has not only led to unimaginable miseries to their families but dented the Indian GDP by over 3 %. The World Economic Forum and FIA with the Government of India have set the target of a 50% reduction in road fatalities by 2025.