New Delhi (India), June 17: Road safety is no less than a global pandemic as it’s the leading cause of death and injury across the world. As per the latest statistics, road traffic injuries are the principal cause of death in the age group of 15 to 49 years. Every year the lives of approximately 1.3 million people are cut short globally as a result of a road traffic crash.
India, with one of the largest road networks in the world, ranked on top of the table in the number of road accident deaths across 199 countries and accounts for almost 11% of the accident-related deaths in the World. Every year, approximately 1.5 lakh people die on Indian roads, which translates, on average, into 1130 accidents and 422 deaths every day or 47 accidents and 18 deaths every hour. It’s a serious concern for our country with severe socioeconomic costs.
In India, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) also has implemented a multi-pronged road safety strategy based on 4-Es, namely Education, Engineering (both roads and vehicles), Enforcement, and Emergency Care.
In any road accident, the post-crash timely rescue plays a critical role in ensuring lower fatality and property loss. As per WHO, post-road accident response time is one of the five pillars of improving road safety. This involves multiple stakeholders, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Firefighters, Police, Transportation agencies, Towing vehicles, and so forth.
In the case of India, out of our current death toll of 1.5 lacks every year, nearly 50% of lives can be saved if the accident victims get timely help in Golden Hours. This is only possible if bystanders act as Good Samaritans and take prompt action to inform emergency conditions nearby hospitals and police and provide first-aid to the injured or can rush them to the nearest hospital if an ambulance does not arrive in time.
While inaugurating the RakshaQR, Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava, Road Safety Ambassador, who led this World Economic Forum pilot of Road Safety 2.0, said that theoretically, it seems feasible that Bystanders will act and provide the necessary support, but practically, it is not possible unless we help the Bystander with some technological intervention. And that is the philosophy of Road Safety 2.0 to use technologies to improve road safety.
A young & promising startup Highway Delite came up with this innovative solution and has launched RakshaQR, an emergency response assistance product, where the bystanders can just scan the accident victim vehicle’s RakshaQR and can report the accident to the family person of the victim through call. The call will be connected over a virtual number, thus keeping the privacy of both the informer and the victims’ family person. At the moment of this accident report call, highway delite takes the location input, and their backend call centre team informs the nearby hospitals and police station, keeping the information private.
RakshaQR enables vehicle owners to register with Highway Delite and add their personal information, including blood group, vehicle insurance, medical insurance, and family emergency details. All this information is secured and encrypted and be visible only to the family emergency contact through SMS in case of an accident intimation call or to the registered vehicle owner as a part of their RakshaQR profile.
Mr. Kiran Kapila, President Emeritus, International Road Federation (India Chapter), while inaugurating, said this is a brilliant step towards improving one of the 5Es of Road Safety. He brought out that IRF(IC) is already doing a Bystanders Training Program, and the RakshaQR will add great value to it.
Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava encouraged the stakeholders to create more technology-enabled solutions to connect the Digital Bystander. He said MoRTH should give limited API-based access to Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) System so that this can be used by such innovative Startups to save lives on highways. Highway Delite brought out that in the next phase, they plan to create a complete digital track record of intimation to availability of emergency care response from hospitals/trauma centers/ambulances and also to connect insurance companies.
RakshaQR also helps vehicle owners to get a notification in case of unattended vehicle scenarios including wrong parking, unauthorized parking, and vehicle-related issues (fuel leak, windows open, keys left), wherein the bystander/ traffic police can inform vehicle owners about any of the above scenarios through Call/SMS by scanning RakshaQR with a basic scanner from their mobile phones. Raksha QR system is developed to work in a web environment, and both the Bystander and vehicle owner are not required to download any kind of mobile application. This vehicle notification feature of RakshaQR can be used by all types of vehicles, including 2-Wheelers, 4-Wheelers, and Commercial Vehicles.
Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava concluded that this is just the first phase of RakshaQR, and in the subsequent phases, they should enable much more and bring a connected and digital way of responding with timely medical assistance for accident scenarios through real-time integration with ambulances, hospitals, vehicles OEMs, police stations, NHAI, PWDs, and other motor and transport departments.
About Highway Delite:
Company Profile:
Company Name: Param People Infotech Solutions Pvt Ltd
Trademark Name (Known as): Highway Delite
Date of Incorporation: May 2015
About Highway Delite:
Highway Delite is a digitally connected mobility services platform with over Ten lakhs+ customers using the Highway Delite application. We provide verified highway wayside amenities information and mobility services, including RakshaQR, FASTag, GPS tracking, EV Charging stations, Insurance and RSA, and road safety products, including reflective tapes and other products. We work with over 10,000+ field partners as our service touch points and over 1000+ OEM dealerships and also with tourism departments, Auto OEMs, OMCs, transport departments, and banks as our stakeholder partners.
For more details, please visit our website: https://highwaydelite.com/#/home
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