In a bid to improve road safety in the State, the Transport Department has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Save LIFE Foundation (SLF), a non-governmental organization (NGO) working towards road safety in India on Thursday in presence of Transport Commissioner Arun Bothra.
The agreement was signed by Sanjay Biswal, Joint Commissioner, Road Safety, State Transport Authority, Odisha and Piyush Tewari, founder & CEO, Save LIFE Foundation, New Delhi. The MoU aims to reduce the road deaths on Odisha roads significantly in the next three years.
As per the agreement, the SLF will identify, recommend and assist with the treatment of up to 100 vulnerable spots in Odisha where maximum accidental deaths have taken place in the last few years.
Speaking at the event, Transport Commissioner Arun Bothra said, “Road safety is a very high priority area for us. We are working on various fronts to make our roads safer. The MOU with Save Life Foundation is a major step. The Foundation has improved the situation in various states. I am sure our combined efforts will bring good results in Odisha as well.”
“Once the remedial measures are suggested and implemented, we hope that fatalities will be reduced by around 30-50 per cent,” he said.
Tewari said Save LIFE Foundation is proud to collaborate with the State to improve road safety and trauma care.
“We deeply admire the commitment of the Odisha Transport Department to save lives and are confident that our ‘Zero-Fatality Corridor’ model will help meet that commitment.”
The ‘Zero-Fatality Corridor’ model attempts at reducing the number of road accident deaths through a 360 degree intervention across engineering, emergency care, enforcement, and education, he pointed out.
SLF will also provide assistance with formation of a Technical Support Unit (TSU) for road safety in the office of the Transport Commissioner. The team will closely work with the lead agency on road safety to reduce road crash fatalities in the State.
The agency will also analyze the policy framework on road safety in the State and recommend necessary changes or modifications in the policy framework on road safety to ensure effective implementation, sources said.