SCMS Institute for Road Safety and Training (SiRST), which imparted road safety training to 7,000 people from across Kerala during the past six months, has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Edappal-based Institute of Driver Training and Research (IDTR), aimed especially at focusing on road safety research.
Sources in the Transport department said that efforts were under way to rope in SiRST as a member of district-level road safety committees (RSCs), considering its expertise in road safety engineering and training. This is because there is no other educational institution in Kerala that imparted comprehensive training in road safety, despite over 4,000 people dying in road accidents each year in the State and over 40,000 suffering permanent disability, they added.
Those who underwent training here since February included around 700 drivers who were sent here by the Motor Vehicles department (MVD), after being found at fault for causing accidents or were pulled up for grave traffic rule violations. Students were among those who attended road safety classes, while 352 women attended ‘Know Your Vehicle’ campaigns that the institute organised to impart hands-on training in maintaining vehicles in case of emergency.
SiRST is a non-voting member of the Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory and has as its director Adarsh Kumar Nair, who retired from the MVD as Joint RTO and was the first recipient of the Chief Minister’s Transport Medal. “The 7,000 drivers included those who attended our road safety classes, those sent by the MVD for correctional training, and people who attended two seminars. The institution was set up with the aim of averting road accidents, thus saving lives, through the four pillars of road safety — education, engineering, emergency medical care, and evaluation [of the cause of accidents] by utilising academic expertise,” Mr. Nair, who played a pivotal role in the creation of the Kochi Metropolitan Transportation Authority (KMTA) Act, said.
Those who underwent corrective training here are followed up and monitored, so that they go on to become road safety volunteers. This would help fulfil the vision of advancing transportation practices that are safe, sustainable and efficient, minimising the impact on the environment, he added.
The institution has also been engaged in capacity building programmes for MVD officials, driving school instructors, and drivers. Its driver counselling centre imparts psychological and legal counselling to traffic rule offenders and accident victims, while volunteers from its first response group (FRG) have been trained to respond to road accidents, especially at black spots that abound on highways and arterial roads in the State.
