ARAI & Swedish Transport Administration kicks of the ‘Road to Vision Zero’ in India

2024-10-31 10:40:28 News & Society

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November 6th, 2020: Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon?ble Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India & H.E. Klas Molin, Ambassador of Sweden to India in the presence of Kamal Bali, Chairman, SITIS & CEO, Volvo Group India and Mr. NV Marathe, Director, ARAI inaugurated the 3 -day training program ? ?Road to Vision Zero?.

The program addresses senior transport & highway officials from across India ? the key stakeholders who are responsible for setting policies and carry out implementation in the Road safety arena, helping India meet its national objective of significantly reducing the yearly fatalities.

The Vision Zero 3-day training program involves 17 different Swedish & Indian stakeholders who will provide insights into how Sweden has managed using the Vision Zero approach to bring down fatalities dramatically despite the increase in vehicular population. This program, is a SITIS initiative, fronted by ARAI & Swedish Transport Administration/Vision Zero Academy. This is one of the first among the various future projects in order to promote the Vision Zero approach among the Indian stakeholders engaged in the road safety arena.

Addressing the audience at the event, Shri Nitin Gadkari commented, ?The vision for Future India, we must eliminate the 3. 14 per cent of GDP, that is lost due to road accidents and death?I am confident that, with the support of people, we will reach our goal in 2 years?.

And further said, he was convinced that every sincere effort we make to improve road safety will payback and it?s important that all stakeholders come together and walk hand in hand in our vision forward. Its? not only the authorities, but I call upon the Auto Industry, Corporates,

the IT industry, NGOs &, in today?s case, all the Swedish stakeholders to join hands in our national ambition to make our roads safer.

H.E. Klas Molin, Ambassador of Sweden to India, commented: ?We are guided by the belief that sustainable transport is possible and we must work to make injuries and fatalities not a part of our future but a part of today and eventually a part of history?Vision Zero is more clearly identified than ever before. We are very happy to see this partnership bearing fruit with this online training programme, On the Road to Vision Zero.?

Mr. N V Marathe, Director ARAI commented: ?ARAI is committed to working to develop indigenous technologies and reducing gaps. With state-of-the-art facilities, competent manpower and dedication, ARAI is always on the move to provide strong and reliable support to the Ministry in the area of emission norms and safety. Through this programme; the sibling has started growing and we need to water it, nourish it now, to bloom it further.

Dr Matts-?ke Belin, Senior Advisor Swedish Transport Administration & Head ? Vision Zero Academy, commented: ?In February 2020 Sweden organized the third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety and in this conference the relation between sustainable transport and Vision Zero was emphasis which was also mirrored in a UN resolution adopted by UN general assembly later this year.

Mr. Kamal Bali, Chairman SITIS concluded: ?SITIS is a direct outcome of the Joint Declaration on Sweden-India Innovation Partnership agreement signed between the two Prime Ministers. And the SITIS Vision is ?To leverage the know-how of India and Sweden to accelerate progress and deployment of safe & sustainable transport solutions and actionable policies, contributing to significant progress of Indian transport system?.

This ?Vision Zero Academy Training Program? is the first step under our Education & Exchange workstream.

ABOUT SITIS:

Members of this platform are companies and institutes, who lead in the safety area in their respective domains. These include partners such as; Autoliv, Ericsson, Manipal Hospitals, Altair, Saab, Tech Mahindra and Volvo Group, as well as universities and research institutes; India Institute of Science (IISc), Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Program, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (TRIPP, IITD), Chalmers University of Technology, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden; and the technical authorities ARAI, and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). The platform will also engage the Vision Zero Academy at the Swedish Transport Administration and Niti Aayog. Sweden-India Business Council (SIBC) is the secretariat for the partnership.