Use of technology solutions can lower road fatalities, says RASSI

The use of ABS can prevent 20 percent of accidents, according to research that has been conducted by Road Accident Sampling Study-India, or RASSI – a crash investigation organisation that is supported by a slew of automotive companies including Nissan Motor India, Renault, Daimler and Bosch. The methodology followed is based on the German-in-depth Accident Study or GIDAS.

Speaking at a webinar, Vijay Ratnaparkhe, who heads the Coimbatore-based Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions India, a Bosch Group company, said that Indian’s road fatalities can be drastically reduced by a combination of technological solutions that include ABS, driver assistance, greater awareness as well as better implementation to ensure that people drive more responsibly and always wear seat belts.
Elaborating on awareness, Ratnaparkhe said that typically, people strap themselves up in their cars to avoid being caught and fined by the police.

Discussing ABS for two-wheelers, Ratnaparkhe said that every third accident in two-wheelers can be avoided with ABS. A reduction in collision speed has been estimated for nearly every fifth accident, as per analysis on RASSI data. Incidentally, the company has ABS solutions for two-wheelers but except for some high-end bikes, the mass bike segment does not come with this feature. Referring to cars, he suggested that it is time that basic safety features be given to the basic or entry-level vehicles as that would help lower accident-related deaths.

At present, apart from the installation of seat belts, the law in India does not mandate ABS. There have been discussions on the installation of ABS for two-wheelers and airbags for all cars, likely starting 2017, but the Centre has not notified these measures. The government is working on an overhaul of the current Motor Vehicles Act.

India has the dubious distinction of having one of the world’s highest road accident rates at 135,000 fatalities a year. With increasing motorisation, these can only go up, experts have said. Two-wheelers fatalities are amongst the highest and anything to reduce this can go a long way in making roads safe for the common man.