Chhatia (Jajpur): With an aim to improve the road safety scenario in the State, the State Transport Authority (STA) has organized a capacity building and training programme for road engineers of Odisha.
The programme was inaugurated on Friday at Heavy Motor Vehicle Driver Training Institute, Chhatia.
Road safety is a high-priority area for the Government. The transport department is taking a lot of initiatives to reduce road accidents in the state.
Bishnupada Sethi, Principal Secretary, Commerce & Transport Department on several occasions has emphasised the importance of capacity building for road engineers.
It is the first of its kind training programme in the state where road engineers working on the design and construction of National Highways and State Highways will attend the workshops on Road Safety.
About 200 engineers in four groups will take part in the two-day long training programme between July 29 and August 6.
Every batch will have 50 participants; 45 engineers from the Works department and five from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Shri Ram Prasad Panda, Chief General Manager, NHAI said, “Three factors are responsible for road accidents- roads, humans and vehicles. Two factors belong to engineers- roads and vehicles; they play a vital role. We have to work cohesively to reduce accidents.”
He further added the training will enhance the knowledge of the engineers about road safety audits to identify, analyse and rectify road engineering defects which lead to accidents.
Addressing the gathering, LalmohanSethi, Additional Commissioner Transport, Road Safety said, “We often ignore the fact that in many cases faulty road designs are the major cause of road accidents. The training is planned to understand how road accidents due to faulty designs, which factors influence risks, and what determines crash severity, and based on this understanding, to arrive at reliable conclusions on how to design roads to prevent accidents effectively and efficiently.”
Earlier in his welcome address, Sanjay Biswal, Joint Commissioner Transport, Road Safety emphasized the importance of the 4Es of Road Safety- Education, Enforcement, Engineering &Environment and Emergency care.
Among others Sudhi Ranjan Mishra, Superintend Engineer, ISAP, Works Dept. and Shri NiranjanPadhi, Additional Chief Engineer, NH, Works dept. were present on the occasion.
Pune-based Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) is the knowledge partner for the event. The experts from the institute will share insight into road safety, road safety audit, basic principles like Haddon’s Matrix Safety System approach, Vision Zero, and emerging technologies in road designs and construction.