Next-generation mobile applications such as Intents Go can help us leap-frog towards a Vision Zero future for road safety

As cities have grown bigger, with increased traffic volumes, higher vehicle speeds and more complex road networks, location intelligence or situational awareness has become an essential need for a road user traveling from point A to point B to ensure efficiency, reliability and safety of travel. Fortunately, the mainstreaming of smartphones and ubiquitous data connectivity has enabled real-time situational awareness to be provided to road users through mobile applications - on everything from traffic congestion, construction zones and accident sites to points of interest such as shops, restaurants, fuel stations and more.

As a technology company working to solve transportation problems, we wanted to see if real-time situational awareness could also be used to improve road safety. Why road safety in particular?

• Road safety is one of biggest challenges facing India today, with over 150,000 lives lost on an average every year due to road accidents. Grimmer is the fact that road accidents are the leading cause of death for young people (15 - 39 years) in India, which is unacceptable.
• There is increasing recognition among stakeholders of the role that technology can play in saving lives on the road, cutting across all the 4Es of road safety - Engineering, Education, Enforcement, and Emergency care. The Stockholm Declaration on road safety (February, 2020) articulates this vision by recommending stakeholders to

"Encourage and incentivize the development, application and deployment of existing and future technologies and other innovations to improve accessibility and all aspects of road safety from crash prevention to emergency response and trauma care".

• Our research has shown that real-time information can be a game changer in improving road safety, particularly in the Indian context, as illustrated by the discussion below.

Road defects such as potholes are a major cause of accidents and deaths on Indian roads. Road defects are a major problem in and of themselves but the combination of higher vehicle speeds with poor road quality is what exacerbates the situation from a road safety perspective. The table below illustrates this point using a simple scenario analysis, based on different combinations of vehicle speed and road quality that a road user might encounter. To keep the illustration simple, only two categories for speed and road quality are considered - speeds greater than 30 km/h are categorized as high speed, and roads with potholes and speed breakers are categorized as poor.

• Scenario 1: High speed + Poor road quality
• Scenario 2: High speed + Good road quality
• Scenario 3: Low speed + Poor road quality
• Scenario 4: Low speed + Good road quality

Scenario 1 is least safe as high speeds with poor road quality create the riskiest conditions for accidents, as both the probability of accidents and the severity of impacts (potentially leading to deaths) increase significantly. On the other hand, Scenario 4 with lower vehicle speed and good road quality is found to be the safest. We can see from this simple assessment that enhancing road safety would entail not only improving road quality but reducing vehicle speeds as well - this is particularly relevant for the Indian context, where Scenario 1 is a common occurrence in many cities.

In achieving this goal, however, we have to recognize the following issues:

·      At any given time, at least 10-15% of roads as a conservative estimate can be said to be of poor quality in cities due to a multitude of factors at play - pace of public sector maintenance works, regular road digging due to underground utility works, the quality of materials used for road relaying and repairs, lack of continuous performance monitoring, and weather conditions such as monsoons.

·      Establishing across-the-board speed limits in Indian cities would not only require people’s acceptance but also major overhaul of existing road design and enforcement standards, all of which make this a difficult proposition at least in the short term.

What this means is that we have to find scalable solutions that can prevent road accidents and deaths today while project and policy interventions for long-term road safety improvements take their course. It is here that technology can help meet both the urgency and scalability requirements to achieve our goal. Coming back to Scenario 1, for example, we can see that at high speeds, avoiding risky situations becomes extremely important and this is where real-time information becomes a game-changer.

It is with this in mind that we have developed the Intents Go mobile app, which, with its timely and accurate alerts for potholes and speed-breakers, is helping road users be aware of risks on the road, and in the process, helping prevent accidents and saving lives.

As road users, our and our family’s safety lies in our hands, and in addition to following safe driving practices such as avoiding over-speeding, following traffic rules, and using safety equipment, we should leverage the benefits of technology to promote road safety, not only for ourselves but for all those who share the road with us. Together, we can work towards a Vision Zero future where not a single life is lost to road accidents.

If you haven’t tried Intents Go yet, please do and let us know about your experience: https://bit.ly/intgob

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