Be Alert on Road: Role of Corporates
FICCI has recently organized a seminar on ‘Road safety: The Role of Corporates’ in association with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, where Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament, described road safety as a national security issue as the death toll due to road accidents is much higher than that caused by the terrorist attacks. She advised that the corporates need to come forward in a big way in generating sensitivity and awareness on the emotional and physical trauma caused to the next kin of those killed in road accidents, and they should steer clear of siding with those who seek less stringent norms for road safety violations.
She stressed the need for innovation in the manufacturing of safety devices and urged manufacturers to adhere to quality specifications. Corporates could also spend increasing amounts from their CSR kitty on distributing rear vehicle body reflectors to people who cannot afford to purchase them. She alluded to the use of lithium in battery-operated vehicles and said that there was a need to minimise the dependence on imported lithium by switching to other environment-friendly fuels.
Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary (Transport), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said that safety begins at home and corporates need to ensure that their employees, workforce and visitors to company premises abide by road safety measures. Employees need to be trained about improving their life skills and adhering to safer road safety norms.
He said that a basic SOP needs to be drawn by every member of FICCI and those not adhering to the specified norms on vehicle fitness, license of truck, reflective strips on vehicle, among others should be penalized.
Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Principal Secretary, Transport Department, Jammu & Kashmir suggested that overspeeding and overloading are two of the prominent reasons for road accidents. “We are working towards improving the roads and increasing public transport in J&K to address these issues. We are also working towards improving the design of roads. In order to train the users and drivers, we have set up a Road Safety Committee, and also created safety clubs in schools and included lessons on road safety in school curricula,” he said.
Rahul Chaudhary, Chairman, FICCI Homeland Security Committee, and Principal and CMD, GTM Consulting Pvt. Ltd. said that the FICCI Homeland Security Division was actively working with various law enforcement agencies to promote the use of the latest technologies which could be deployed for traffic management and road safety such as echallans and body worn cameras.
Ms. Lekhi gave away the FICCI Road Safety Awards 2018 to six corporates which are championing the cause of road safety.
The six companies are Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Mundra) – with the Road Safety Champion of the Year Award; Amazon India – with Innovative Educational Program for Raising Awareness in Road Safety Award; The Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz Ltd. – with the Innovation in Product and Services in Road Safety Award; Shell India Markets Private Ltd. – with Initiatives under Journey Risk Management Award; Hindustan Coca Cola beverages Pvt. Ltd. – with Safe Driving Award for Safe Driving Driver and Safe Vehicles; and Hero MotoCorp Ltd. – with Community Programs in Road Safety for its Ride Safe India.
