Nagpur: In a major relief for commuters, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has reported a significant reduction in accidents involving Aapli Buses equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS). This advanced technology, developed under the Project Intelligent Solutions For Road Safety Through Technology and Engineering (iRASTE), has proven instrumental in enhancing road safety.
According to a report submitted by iRASTE to the NMC, data collected from January 2023 to August 2023 revealed a remarkable 41% decrease in accidents involving ADAS-fitted buses compared to those without ADAS. This substantial reduction underscores the efficacy of ADAS technology in preventing road mishaps and ensuring passenger safety.
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Wednesday 15 Jan. 2025
During the iRASTE #RoadAhead event in Nagpur, Konala Varma, CEO of iRASTE, stated that the organization will submit the study report to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). This move aims to facilitate the implementation of the successful outcomes of pilot projects across the country. Varma also mentioned that a similar project is being implemented on the intercity national highway corridor in Telangana.
Furthermore, the report highlighted the effectiveness of ADAS in minimizing driver risk. Monthly driver risk scores have shown a notable 30% decrease since the project’s inception. This drop in risk scores is attributed to the continuous monitoring and alerts provided by ADAS, which enable drivers to adopt safer driving practices.
The success of this initiative in Nagpur is a promising indicator for the potential of ADAS technology to improve road safety on a larger scale, benefiting commuters and contributing to safer travel across the nation.
In addition to ADAS implementation, the iRASTE project has also focused on addressing road safety concerns at identified blackspots in Nagpur. The project team proposed geometric design plans for 38 such blackspots, submitting them to relevant road owning agencies including the NMC, Public Works Department, National Highway Division, and the World Bank division.
Overall, the success of ADAS technology in reducing accidents and mitigating driver risk underscores the importance of leveraging innovative solutions to create safer road environments for all commuters.
Under the Mobility Safety Analysis vector, it also introduced the novel technique of predicting Greyspots (potential blackspots) for the first time in India by combining ADAS data with static data like road parameters. Using this data, the team delivered a set of short and long-term measures for the top 16 grey spots and two of the most unsafe corridors in the city.
According to NMC Chief Engineer Rajiv Gaikwad, suggestions and studies by iRASTE has helped to reduce the number of road accidents, besides helping behavioural change among the Aapli bus drivers. Due to various road owning agencies, the suggestions to eradicate blackspots is taking time.
Community-based emergency first responder networks (‘Trystander cells’) were installed at 8 blackspot locations, equipped with First Aid resources such as foldable stretchers and first aid kits, which enabled the local first responder volunteer teams to save 36 road crash victims so far who were involved in crashes around these blackspots.
During the event, director of Central Road Research Institute (CSIR) Manoranjan Parida, chief scientist and iRASTE project coordinator S Velmurugan, NMC’s Executive Engineer (Traffic) Ravi Bundhade among others were present.
