Bridging Innovation and Safety: Addressing India's Road Fatalities- Yash Gohokar

I am Yash Gohokar, a second-year mechanical engineering student at the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli. I grew up in a small town in Maharashtra named Chandrapur. As a child, I always used to hear that so and so person met an accident and was killed or severely injured.  These incidents left me thinking about how and why these accidents are happening and whether can they not be prevented. I also lost some relatives and neighbours due to road accidents.  Most of the individuals who face these accidents are young and have lives to live and people to take care of. And the scenario now is also not very different. The most road accidents in the world happen in India. About 2,50,000 young Indians die every year due to road accidents. Imagine these many individuals not being able to contribute to the workforce in the country and their family members left without earning source (in most cases). This is beyond a serious problem and needs to be addressed immediately. I as a mechanical aim to solve this problem and believe this resolve will require some quality mechanical engineering solution with the combination of policy changes. Mechanical engineers can contribute to addressing this issue in various ways. They can research and implement technology to minimize the impact on the person in the vehicle after a collision, develop technology that prevents the vehicle from starting if it detects a certain level of alcohol in the surroundings, and create technologies that immediately call the ambulance and fire brigade after sensing an accident. These are all small technological implementations that will significantly contribute to positive changes in addressing the problem. CCTV cameras and speed sensors are required to be installed in various places to prevent overspeeding. The policy changes include heavy fines on breaking the traffic rules and making it compulsory to install the alcohol sensing equipment, and accident signal equipment in every vehicle manufactured, even if the price of the vehicle goes up. This will solve 2 problems namely people will reduce buying vehicles as it will be costly and prefer public transport addressing the problem of traffic on the Indian roads and the vehicle which is purchased will be safer and better to travel by. I think this issue can be addressed mechanical engineers will have a big role to play and India will be safer for road transport which will boost the economy and reduce the loss of human resources.