On January 13, 2020, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs(Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Shri Nitin Gadkari & Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh have jointly launched an IT (Information Technology) tool “Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD)” developed by the Indian Institute of Technology–Madras (IIT-M) that will help in proper monitoring and accurate analysis of road accidents.
It was launched during ‘Road Safety Stakeholders’ Meet held in New Delhi.
Key Points:
i.Developed with the help of ₹258 crore financial assistance given by the World Bank,the database will be implemented by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
ii.Initially this system is being implemented in 6 states with highest fatalities of road crashes namely Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (TN) and Uttar Pradesh (UP).It will be launched Across India after the successful trial.
iii.IRAD system:
- It is capable of collecting data on all types of accidents on different types of roads from across India. It is an Internet-based IT solution, on which all agencies, from PWD(Public Works Department) to police, can feed details of information related to road accidents from different perspectives. These include details related to accident investigation, road engineering, vehicle condition, etc.
- Based on these details, various agencies can analyze the accidents according to their own and find out the reasons responsible for them & with this, the road safety measures at a particular location can be determined.
iv.According to the World Road Statistics, India recorded the highest number of road accident deaths across 199 countries in 2018 followed by China and the US (United States). While as per government data, more than 1.5 lakh people lost their lives in road crashes in India in 2018.
About National Informatics Centre (NIC):
It was established in 1976 & works under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Headquarters– New Delhi
