The International Road Federation, India Chapter is organizing its 9th IRF Regional Conference on “Road Safety Initiatives: Status And The Way Forward” is being organized with the support of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Urban Development and will be held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 5th – 6th October 2015.
To take stock of the large body of work done so far leading to achievements, institutional initiatives, policy measures and governmental interventions, IRF is scheduling its 9th in the series of Regional Conferences with an objective to identify the gaps that still remain, both at policy and ground level of implementation. The Conference with invited global participation aims for an interchange of ideas and acquaintance with the many developments taking place globally, helping in adopting where necessary these developments to suit the requirements.
India has the dubious distinction of having the highest road deaths (141,000 road deaths from road crashes in 2014 and 480,000 serious injuries). IRF (India Chapter)’s relentless efforts to put this problem on a higher pedestal, has brought into focus the road safety issues before the Central and State Governments, whereby several actions have been initiated across the country. But, this multi-sectoral problem continues to defy all efforts and interventions, as an over-all Safe System Approach is not being followed in all cases. Basically, the Road Safety Management needs to be strengthened with clear mandate and management capacity in lead agencies, which is currently lacking.
The Conference Sub-themes would address the issues related to the UN designated five pillars of Road safety will include Decade of Action for Road Safety , Road Safety Management,Safer Roads and Mobility, Safer Vehicles, safer Road Users, Post-Crash Response and Funding of Road Safety and Monitoring & Evaluation.
Recognizing the performance and preparedness of top 2 States of India in the area of Road Safety as well as their efforts in achieving the UN Decade of Action, performance awards would be presented at the Inaugural Session by the Hon’ble Ministers of Road Transport.
IRF hopes that this Conference will renew and refresh the commitments of the stakeholders from the Centre, the States, the industry, NGOs, etc to work collectively and relentlessly to bring down road accident fatalities and help the country and its citizens to battle this menace.