The nearly two-decade old programme started at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi by Late Professor Dinesh Mohan, a renowned road safety expert, is now being turned into a full-fledged Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre (TRIP-C), the institute said Wednesday.
Mohan (75) died on May 21 after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was hospitalised due to Covid.
IIT-D Director V Ramgopal Rao had earlier told The Indian Express that just a day prior to Mohan’s death, the institute’s Board had given go-ahead to convert the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) started by Mohan in 2002, into a Centre.
“The focus of the new centre will be to produce state-of-the-art knowledge to address Road Transport and Traffic Safety in India and regions with similar socio-economic conditions. It will work towards meeting the national and international needs by focusing on research and postgraduate education on Road Transport and Traffic Safety aspects in the following thematic areas: road planning and design interventions associated with traffic safety, road user behaviour associated with traffic safety and sustainable transport systems, and safety aspects of new vehicle technology in mixed traffic,” IIT-D said in a statement.
“RIP-C would offer academic programmes in the field of transportation and road safety to train professionals who are equipped with the skills for developing and maintaining safe transport infrastructure including the vulnerable road users… Besides continuing with the existing PhD programme, the new centre would offer a ‘Master of Science (M.S.) Research’ programme, which would train the students/ professionals in the field of the transportation safety and prepare the students for the research careers,” it added.
However, officials did not specify when the Masters programme would be started.
Professor K Ramachandra Rao, Coordinator, TRIPP said, “The forthcoming centre has a unique template on how to run an interdisciplinary programme successfully, would aim to achieve greater heights through core research themes that would endeavour to develop standards for safe transport and urban mobility options”.
“The Master’s programme will offer a unique blend for professionals from varied backgrounds (Engineering/ Planning/ Medical/ Science/ Humanities) to be trained with the knowledge of developing safe and sustainable mobility leading to the enhancement of overall human life quality,” he said.
An alumnus of IIT-Bombay and University of Michigan, Mohan had started his career with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Washington DC, USA, but since 1976 he was with IIT-D’s Centre for Biomedical Engineering.
He did pioneering work in advanced motorcycle design, and highlighted the importance of the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. He was a strong advocate for the bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor started in 2008 in the city, which was junked after its partial implementation.