About 1,000 global Road safety experts, professionals, companies and Government organisations, active in the road transport and mobility sectors from various parts of the world took part in the Four day 18th World Road Meeting (WRM) titled CROSSROADS-WRM 2017 organised by Geneva based International Road Federation (IRF) at India Expo Mart Limited, GREATER NOIDA. This was hosted by India for the first time.
“Building and maintain safe roads is more cost effective way to reduce accidents as well as proper data management of accidents is need to further improve the road safety . The quality of road builkding through newer technologies and environment friendly construction material and use of satellites will help in meeting the UN Goal of reducing road accident deaths by the year 2020 ” said MR K K Kapila, Chairman, International Road Federation (IRF) a global body workinf for better and safer roads world wide.
“Experts attending the meet also suggested extensive use of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) in various countries world wide .It needs to be fast tracked especially in low and middle income countries like India .It will lead to smooth mobility and make roads safer” he said
“ Experts also stressed on the need of promoting ‘minimum 3 star’ road infrastructure safety for all road users in developing countries in a push to promote safer road infrastructure design.If we are serious about achieving the UN target we must make the case for systemically changing 1 and 2 star roads into 3 and 4 star roads in low and middle income group countries including India . We can begin with the ten per cent of high volume, high risk roads where half the deaths and serious injuries occur. Star rating of roads is done on basis of vehicular and passenger safety as well as speed.” said Mr Kapila .
“Experts also stressed on the need of having increased budget for building roads by government to include safety features in the road construction.” he said.
The WRM was inaugurated by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways the theme of the WRM was ‘Safer Roads –Smart Mobility, The engines of growth”.
“The major highlight of WRM 2017 was an exhibition showcasing state-of-the-art technologies on road safety and traffic regulations including control systems, communication and navigation devices, driver training systems, Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Access Control, Barriers, Vehicle Detection, Speed Cameras, License Plate Recognition, Vehicle Classification, Fibre Optics, Road Signs, Highway Infrastructure, latest parking technologies, Road Building, Road Marking & Equipment, Street Lighting, Parking, Pay & Display, Traffic Management, Display Systems, Traffic Monitoring, and Traffic Control Signalling.” Said Mr Kapila
