SIAM Concludes Virtual Tri Lecture Series on “Active & Passive Vehicular Safety Standards
New Delhi: The tri lecture series on Active & Passive Vehicular Safety Standards conducted by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) concluded today with a lecture on “Technology & Safety Features of Two & Three Wheelers”. The lecture series emphasized on creating a sustainable road safety roadmap with due emphasis on engineering, education, enforcement and emergency care through technological breakthroughs and policy implementation.
The automotive sector, over the years, has made significant investments in embracing new game-changing safety features and technologies. Added to this, despite the safety measures being set by the government for two and three-wheelers many of them being India unique, the real life application witness a challenge in adoption at ground zero. All participants consensually agreed to the fact that sensitizing the public around such safety provisions set by the government needs to be put in spot light to prevent the situations compromising passenger safety.
In 2019, as per NCRB report out of 4,37,396, traffic accidents 38.0% were related to two-wheelers alone. Currently, as per regulations, helmet for both rider and pillion is mandatory. However, enforcement for wearing a helmet continue to remain poor in the country. On the other hand, being an economical mobility solution, especially in the rural areas, three wheelers often put passengers safety at risk due to capacity overloading.
The panel of speakers included Mr V Pattabiraman, Chairman, SIAM 3 Wheeler Group and Associate Vice President, TVS Motor Company, Mr Soumya Das, Head International Marketing & Business Development,
Bajaj Auto Ltd, Mr Edwin Bastiaensen, Secretary General, International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (IMMA), Mr Ravishankar Rajaraman, Technical Director, Chairman RASSI Technical Steering Committee, J P Research India Pvt Ltd, Mr Harpreet Singh, Head – Safety, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Ltd, and Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM.
Key takeaways of the lecture series were:
· Indian Two-Wheeler Safety features and standards
· Lower-Middle-Income Countries: Demand of Two and Three-Wheeler and its Standards
· Global Two-Wheeler Safety Standards
· Understanding two-wheeler safety on road through Accident Data Analysis
· Two Wheeler Safety Training and enforcement
Speaking on the series, Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM said, “Two-wheelers and three wheelers continue to dominate mobility landscape in India, yet 2W riders remain vulnerable and susceptible to road accidents as shown by various reports. While the government and industry players have taken measures in terms of regulations and technology breakthroughs, we still lag far behind in road safety statistics. Through this series of lectures, the industry and stake holders have come together to deliberate this prevailing issue. Educating vehicle owners on various safety norms still remains the biggest challenge and safety standards can only be achieved through public participation that complements policies laid by the government. We at SIAM through our various initiatives have taken up this issue of road safety keeping vulnerable road users as our top most priority.”
This lecture marks the culmination of the Tri Lecture Series on “Active & Passive Vehicular Safety Standards”. The previous two lectures were “Safety Features of Buses and Commercial Vehicles” and “Safety Features of Passenger Vehicles”.