While India continues to impress by developing road infrastructure across the length and breadth of the country at an accelerated pace, unfortunately, the statistics for Road traffic injuries (RTIs) continue to disappoint.
The leading cause of death globally for all ages and the first cause in the 5-29 age group is road traffic injury. Close to 1.5 lakh people die yearly, and RTIs injure up to 4.5 lakhs. More than 60% of these deaths are attributable to vulnerable road users (i.e., pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists).
International Road Federation (IRF) in partnership with SettleMint, India’s fastest growing blockchain platform, powered by Polygon Networks is excited to launch a pilot project for a Blockchain-based Road Safety Platform with Super Mobile App to improve road safety in India with the use of technology.
Commenting on the project, K. K. Kapila, Chairman, IRF, said, “The traditional approach to road safety is not yielding the desired results, which is evident from the fact that despite some exciting & promising efforts by the Government, like developing Zero fatality corridors, identifying & fixing blackspots, installing cameras for enforcement etc., the highest number of road fatalities took place in 2021.”
Mere copying western road safety solutions will not work on Indian roads, where the problem is multi-layered. Unlike in western countries, the heterogeneous traffic on Indian roads constitutes pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycles, cars, buses, commercial vehicles, trucks, tractors and even animals. An Indian solution is needed which fits in our context of geo-socio-political scenarios and economic realities, where technology compensates for human limitations and encourages good drivers by creating a human-centric ecosystem.
“SettleMint, India has been closely working with numerous other public sector departments and is extremely proud to be associated with IRF for a critical project to enhance and improve much needed road safety in the country,” said, Sristhi Assudani, Director Sales, SettleMint India.
Detailing the project, Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava – Road Safety Brand Ambassador, IRF and Chief Executive steer leading the Project, said, “We need technology-driven vehicle safety features both within and out of the vehicle, depending on the vulnerable road users. The approach must have an integrated solution around road safety, including self-motivation through safe driving scores to strict enforcement.”
The Road Safety Digital platform will be like CoWIN Platform (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network), a one-stop solution for all needs of road commuters. The Platform will lay the foundation for integrated road audits, enforcement, emergency care and insurance providers on a single platform and will connect road users with road operating authorities, enforcement agencies and emergency service providers just by the click of a button.
Explaining the functioning of the pilot, Satish Parakh, President IRF (India Chapter) added, “The Blockchain-based Digital Platform with Mobile App will provide an end-to-end system, documenting each step of the road safety-related issues by integrating various Databases through APIs and creating a unified User Interface and customised role-based Dashboards for the stakeholders.”
It will contain login-based specific & secured information about:
Road User details; their Driving License Safe Driving Scores, the validity of the license, insurance policy, e-challan & penalties if any,
Vehicle details; registration, challan, PUC, vehicle insurance, Commercial Vehicles permit, e-challans & penalties etc.,
Road/Highway details; road geometric, real-time information about black/grey spots, potholes, riding quality index, signages, etc.
Emergency Care Services & Insurance details; accident details, nearest police stations & hospitals, availability of ambulance & beds in the nearby hospital, which can be connected through the Super App, online insurance claim settlement as customer, police & insurance companies all integrated to the same platform.
Elaborating on the project, Sristhi Assudani, Director Sales, SettleMint India, said, “The Blockchain will securely ensure the traceability of every transaction on a one-to-one basis and through a distributed ledger. This will grow into an ultimate solution for road safety with an AI engine on top of this platform at a later stage.”
The Platform will be powered by Polygon Network on an Ethereum Scaling L2 ecosystem and delivered by their technology Partner, SettleMint India Services Private Limited. It is likely to go live by early January 2023. A visionary initiative by the International Road Federation (India Chapter). After the successful launch in India, IRF(IC) plans to take it internationally.
