NATPAC Widening its Horizon to Other States

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), serving the state in promoting road safety and inculcating the right road culture among all road users, will be expanding its horizon to other states in the country.
The centre has recently completed a Road Safety project at Gurugram in the State of Haryana under the sponsorship of Maruthi Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) during the year 2016-2017. Major objective of the study was to improve road safety through traffic engineering, implementation of safety measures and education and training programmes.
NATPAC director Dr. R. Prakashkumar said that as part of the project, the centre studied the traffic problems on 8 km of major roads in the heart of Gurugram city and came out with traffic engineering solutions which included pedestrian improvement schemes, installation of traffic signs, road markings, and apprutenances, parking strategies, road safety education for vulnerable road users and school students, road safety campaign through distribution of pamphlets in Hindi and English, audio visual road safety campaigns using exhibition van cum street drama, soft policing through student police cadets and road safety cum first aid training to police personnel and auto rickshaw drivers. The schemes suggested by NATPAC were implemented by Gurugram Municipal Corporation with financial support from MSIL.
The post evaluation of implemented schemes reveal a marked improvement in road user behaviour and reduced accidents. In pursuit of the same, NATPAC has been roped in by MSIL for replicating the study on 45km of National Highway No. 48 between Ambience Mall and Bilaspur in Gurugram district which is one of the major travel corridors in Haryana State, Prakashkumar said.
Evidently this is an acknowledgment of the meticulous work and the excelling expertise of NATPAC in road safety. Major objectives of the study are to;
 Assess the existing traffic scenario of the NH 48 stretch
 Identify major accident prone locations and to suggest innovative accident mitigation schemes
 Continuously monitor the accident scenario during the project period, to assess the causative factors for accident occurrences and propose suitable schemes for accident abatement
 Supervise the implementation of suggested schemes
 Evaluate the impact of schemes implemented
The study is to be commenced from the month of September 2017 and is proposed to be completed in an year.