Cyrus Mistry death: International road safety body to audit accident-prone stretch of Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway

AHMEDABAD: Taking cognizance of the recent road mishap which led to the death of the former chairman of Tata Group, Cyrus Mistry, Geneva-based International Road Federation (IRF) is set to conduct a road safety audit on the accident-prone section of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, to identify and remove deficiencies on the section.
The road safety audit involves evaluating highway improvement scheme during design, at the end of construction and post construction, to identify deficiencies and to suggest measures to eliminate or mitigate them.
“Concerned over rising road accidents in the country and the recent fatal road accident in which eminent businessman, Cyrus Mistry, lost his life on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Highway, the IRF has decided to conduct a Road Safety Audit on the accident-prone stretch to evaluate and identify road deficiencies,” said KK Kapila, president emeritus, IRF.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, India accounted for 4.03 lakh road accidents in 2021 in which some 1.55 lakh people died. In Gujarat alone, 6,719 road accidents took place in which some 7,641 people died.
“This translates to a 0.53% increase in the death rate as compared to 2020 in India. India’s performance over the years has not shown significant improvement and the loss due to road traffic accidents is equivalent to 5-7% of the country’s GDP, according to the World Bank Report June 2022,” said Kapila.
According to IRF data, India accounts for at least 11% of global fatal road accidents, the highest in the world. IRF is currently working in seven states namely Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh along the worst road section, aiming to correct them.
Road safety audits are undertaken by teams of specialists trained in the skills of road safety engineering. Strategic road schemes and the majority of new works are required to have an independent Road Safety Audit to take corrective measures to reduce accidents.
“The worldwide concept of forgiving roads is getting popular with zero fatalities. The 5E’s of safe road systems namely Engineering of Roads, Engineering of Vehicles and Policy Corrections, Education, Enforcement and Emergency care should be simultaneously carried out on all the roads,” said Satish Parakh, president, IRF-IC.