FCC

Design best practices for road safety

2022-10-31

The dominion of road safety in India is tricky terrain. A mix of defined protocols and undefined procedures makes it difficult to navigate. However, thanks to global best practices that enhance the safety of design and encourage the use of digital tools, the scenario is set to change.

Cars crashing into each other may look quite enticing in a Rohit Shetty movie but in real life it’s something you want to steer away from. On average, around 472,606 road accidents in India annually result in the death of almost 149,472 individuals across different age groups. So, as we become eager to build more roads and highways, we should be equally keen on making them safe for use.

The problem arises because there is always a compromise when it comes to safety and the standard of design. Much of it has to do with the talent pool at work as well as the enthusiasm to create and deliver the right solutions. “We need to employ the right kind of civil engineers who can come up with precise and innovative solutions to address present-day safety challenges,” says Vipul Surana, Regional Director – Transport AECOM.“Right now, the safety part of the road-building narrative is suffering from low enthusiasm and hence the results are not up to the mark as desired by the authorities even though we have the right digital tools in place.”

Many of the design standards and codes we have been following in road safety are borrowed from Europe. IRC 73 and IRC 86 are in use even today but implementation of these codes is a problem. More so because in many projects it becomes difficult to go by the book entailing deviation and there are no specific guidelines for deviation of standards, the impact on safety and ways and methods to mitigate it.