Autocar Professional’s annual webinar on safety on May 4

Road traffic crashes take the lives of nearly 1.3 million people globally every year, and injure 20-50 million more. While safety is slowly but surely gaining importance in India, a whole lot more still needs to be done in our country, which tops the global list in terms of road fatalities.

Automobile manufacturers, automotive suppliers, government, research agencies and of course the end consumer, each have a key role to play in order to make Indian roads safer.

To do its bit for increasing awareness about road safety in India, Autocar Professional will host the 2nd edition of the annual webinar with the theme of 'Towards a Safer India', on May 4 (3:00 pm - 5:00 pm IST), the first day of the UN Global Road Safety Week. The webinar will see international experts from Mahindra & Mahindra, Bosch, Continental, Global NCAP and ARAI discuss and debate the role of new technologies and regulations in a 360-degree fashion to design the best ways to make Indian roads safer. So do book your slot for the webinar and be a part of the drive for safe motoring in the country.

Click here  to register for the webinar and interact with the experts

Highlights of last year’s webinar

The first edition of Autocar Professional’s webinar on the theme ‘Towards A Safer India’ was successfully held on May 4, 2015 with over 100 participants and saw industry experts share their views on technology, costs, legislation and the roadmap ahead for making Indian roads safer.

The issue of vehicle safety in the Indian and global context was discussed by four experts –James Remfrey, director, Technology Intelligence within Systems & Technology, Division Chassis & Safety, Continental; David Ward, secretary general, Global New Car Assessment Programme; Kartikeya Joshi, marketing and sales head, Bosch Chassis Systems India; and Ashok G Joshi, senior GM, Vehicle Attributes & Technical Service, Tata Motors.

In the opening remarks, David Ward of Global NCAP highlighted the need for the government to provide fiscal incentives to ensure that people buy safer vehicles, while stressing that it was as cheap as $200 (Rs 12,634) per vehicle for carmakers to provide safety features to meet minimum crash standards.

Kartikeya Joshi of Bosch Chassis Systems India had shared the findings of the research Bosch had done in India along with JP Research which highlighted that 22 percent of accidents on Indian roads could have been avoided had the vehicles been equipped with ABS.

James Remfrey of Continental spoke about his company’s commitment to launch safe products and the work that a 1,000-strong group of engineers at the company’s centre has been working. He highlighted that developing advanced efficient braking systems is key as the best-case scenario is when an almost-imminent accident does not take place.

Finally, shedding light on the India situation from the perspective of an Indian carmaker, Ashok Joshi of Tata Motors spoke about the need for better road infrastructure as well as the upcoming changes in India’s safety agenda which include stricter safety protocols and also the 56kph speed criterion for frontal crash, and safety for pedestrians that will become mandatory from 2017.

All the speakers were, by and large, unanimous on the fact that improved road discipline, better road infrastructure and post-accident care are key issues that stakeholders must address and the webinar was concluded on a note of optimism.