A study by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed that there were 4,51,757 accidental deaths reported in the country in 2014, an increase of 12.8 per cent over 2013. Of these, a total of 1,41,526 deaths were attributed to road accidents. Researchers have ascribed more than 40 per cent of such deaths to human error or driver fatigue. Some have even suggested a figure as high as 85 per cent of accidents due to driver fatigue. A death every four minutes puts India in the top slot for unsafe roads.
Fatigue may be defined as extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion. A driver’s performance and behaviour is greatly influenced by physical and cognitive factors. Its contribution to individual cases is hard to measure post-facto and thus often difficult to conclusively state it as a cause of collision. Therefore, it is important to know about a driver’s behaviour, fatigue and performance for apt interventions to avoid road accidents.
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and Harita Seating Systems Ltd. (HSSL) are joining hands to address this cause of increase in the number of road accidents by collaboratively developing products to enhance road safety. As an initiation of this process, IIT-M will transfer to HSSL indigenous technological knowhow on ubiquitous monitoring of driver performance and behaviour.
Both IITM and HSSL plan to leverage their extensive experience in product development and manufacturing to make commercially viable products in India that enhance road safety for all stakeholders.
Highlighting the significance of this technology transfer, Dr. Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Professor, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, said: “With such a growing number of accidents and the cost associated with it, occupant and pedestrian safety are a top priority for the Government, non-governmental agencies and industry around the world. It is a unique opportunity that the concepts developed and tested in lab as a design tool could be transferred to a leading manufacturer in the automobile industry. We believe that we could assist HSSL launch intelligent safety systems incorporated products in the near future and thereby make a small contribution from IITM in the journey of safe roads in India.”
Sharing his views on the collaboration, Mr. A.G. Giridharan, HSSL President, said: “Harita has design, comfort, safety and innovation as the core elements in its product range. Harita has always focused on passenger safety in seating design. This technology transfer and collaboration agreement will be along our group’s vision of developing products and lead the market by virtue of our innovativeness that takes ‘Make in India’ for the world. We look forward to the challenges of taking a disruptive product concept to a viable market-ready product in the shortest possible time. It is our privilege to join this march with IIT Madras to develop technological solutions and enhance driver comfort and safety. We believe that this endeavour will result in products that can help road safety as well as help fleet owners manage their resources better.”