Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India, Nitin Gadkari, said that the govt. aims to reduce the total number of road accidents to half by the end of 2024. According to him, road safety is now the government’s top priority, and they plan to use AI solutions to achieve their goals.
Currently, India records 150,000 deaths and over 300,000 serious physical injuries annually because of road accidents. The government will use artificial intelligence to manage and predict traffic conditions.
The AI solution would help authorities drastically reduce any chances of a traffic mishap. Gadkari said, “We have implemented advanced technology and electronic monitoring systems for safe and efficient traffic movement on Indian highways. We have implemented several initiatives in collaboration with governments, NGOs, industries and various institutions within civil society.”
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He further added that the government understands the need for collaborative effort at the grassroots level to minimize road accidents. The government plans to deploy artificial intelligence solutions for the following purposes-
- Improving lane discipline on National Highways.
- Vehicle Overspeed and seat belt detection.
- Post-forensic accident investigation.
- Accident patterns with black spots.
- Driver fatigue and sleep indicator.
- Advanced vehicle collision system.
“AI can be used to combine data from all applicable sources above with data used to make appropriate changes at the policy level. The private sector has expanded cooperation and can combine it,” said Gadkari. He also mentioned that the government has plans to provide technical assistance to engineering colleges and institutions to investigate and submit accident analysis reports using artificial intelligence.
Chandigarh authorities also took a similar kind of approach earlier this year to effectively manage the city’s traffic conditions. The artificial intelligence-powered system analyzes video footage collected from various CCTV cameras for calculating the duration of traffic lights to maintain a smooth and uninterrupted flow of traffic.
