MARRAKECH: Indian govt on Thursday received the Prince Michael Decade of Action Road Safety Award, the highest award in this field, for achievements in “improving vehicle safety” in the past decade, including the roll out of new car safety assessment regime, and mandatory ABS (anti-lock braking system) features in all new two-wheelers.
The Kingdom of Morocco also received the award.
The awards were announced and conferred at the 4th Ministerial Conference on Road Safety at Marrakech where leaders from dozens of countries had gathered to prepare the roadmap to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2030.
Ajay Tamta, MoS of road transport and highways received the award from Etienne Krug of World Health Organisation. Reading out the citation, he said, “Following the first independent crash test ratings of Indian cars in 2014, the road transport and highways ministry announced a new framework of vehicle safety standards.”
The road transport ministry in 2018 had prepared the roadmap for bringing the best safety norms for vehicles to make them at par with Europe by 2023. While it has made major achievements, the high number of people dying outside cars (unlike developed countries), remains the biggest challenge. India lost 1.73 lakh lives on roads in 2023.