The initiative taken up by IITMCOERS (IIT Madras Centre of Excellence for Road Safety or Centre of Excellence for Road Safety at IIT Madras ) is intended bridge the gap between the actual trainers in the Driver Training Institute and the School’s capacity and capability to obtain a better evaluation of the drivers’ knowledge, skill and practice.

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Commending the initiative of IITMCOERS

Commending this initiative of IITMCOERS Chief Guest Shankar Jiwal, Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu Police, said I must congratulate Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian and other stakeholders for going a great job on this report.

We have been speaking about road safety for long. There have been empirical and statistical studies but there is a disconnect between the two, he said speaking about the initiative by IITMCOERS.

For last two years, there is a remarkable dip in number of accidents, almost around 11 per cent last year, and this year, almost 8 per cent. However, the ‘cause and effect’ remains an enigma for us.

‘We would be glad if the academia, especially initiatives like CoERS, could unravel it for us.’

He further said if the number of accidents goes down, it leads to a lot of positive outcomes, top of which is reduction in loss of lives and limb.

There are hidden savings for GDP as well in terms of damage to vehicle and reduction in number of man-hours the police spend on paperwork, registering cases, appearing in the court, and so on.

One accident reduces in lot of savings. Everybody looks forward to reduction in cases, especially fatal accidents, he said at the function by IITMCOERS.

However, shift of the concrete measures that can be taken to translate studies to the field is still not happening. We should have translated lot of these into the field, said Tamil Nadu DGP.

Today, with the advanced technologies especially the autonomous driving, it takes a significant amount of time to understand all the technologies.

People have to adapt themselves from IC (Internal Combustion) engine car to an electric vehicle.

The training of drivers is very important. I do not know when autonomous driving will come to India in full but whenever it does, good training for drivers is important.

‘This initiative is a step in the right direction.’

Report

The 2016 MoRTH report on Road Accidents in India was the last report that mentioned driver error, accounting for about 84% of crashes in India.

More than 4.12 lakh accidents have occurred in India as per the report ‘Road Accidents in India 2021’, published by MoRTH. The report highlighted that Human Error, inclusive of traffic violations, unlicenced driving and non-usage of helmets and seat belts, have contributed to over 80% of the total accidents.

Elaborating

Elaborating on this initiative, Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Faculty Head, IITMCOERS and RBG Labs, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, said, human factors play a crucial role in designing effective systems and products that help deskill the process and upskill the drivers in India.

The 3 Gate Licensing System, already launched last year by IITMCOERS provides a methodology for evaluating Knowledge, Skill and Practice capability of the drivers, he said.

However, the gap between the actual trainers in the Driver Training Institute and the School’s capacity and capability needs to be assessed.

To perform this intervention, the Three-Step Training Process (3STP) is proposed by IITMCOERS that audits, provide capacity building and rating for the driver training institutes and schools.

Among the multiple factors, driver error has been consistently reported as a significant contributor of road crashes.

At IITMCOERS, funded by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), researchers have tried to provide experiential and sustained learning for impressionable future adults on best practices through an influencer who forms a large part of their engagement time with roads, i.e., drivers who commute with them to school and college.

Support

Supported by the SNS Foundation and M/s HL Mando Anand India Limited, IITMCOERS partnered with M/s Red Chariots Technologies Private Limited to provide simulator-based training for over 2,000 drivers from the Greater Chennai region.

This Training of Influencer program is a step towards developing pedagogy to address gaps in driver training by using technology-enabled solutions.

Drivers were trained in safe driving concepts, hazard perception, and driving etiquette which will go a long way in having an impact on the minds of school and college-going children who will be drivers in the near future.

About IITMCOERS

IITMCOERS (CoERS) is funded by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Government of India, to perform evidence-based integrated approach to Road Safety.

IITMCOERS works on various aspects of human factors engineering, road engineering, vehicle engineering, trauma care and education to bring about significant improvements in road safety globally.

The IITMCOERS also advices various stakeholders and Governments to bring about a data-driven systems approach to road safety.

Development of this advanced facility is a key demonstration of the research and technical capabilities of IIT Madras and the nation.

Solutions

This is a unique facility that can address challenging problems in Indian ports, waterways and coastal Engineering.

Facility

This facility has been established through the National Technology Centre for Ports Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC), a centre dedicated for technological innovations and the evolution of new ideas and breakthroughs in the port and maritime sector.

It works as the technology arm of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India and provides the needful technological support to ports, IWAI and other institutions, say sources from IIT Madras.

Department of Ocean Engineering at IIT Madras

Prof. Prof. K. Murali, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, said, this facility will position IIT Madras in international arena as one of the institutes that operates the large scale shallow wave basin for research and industry applications.

We no longer need to depend on technology from other countries for the generation of waves in laboratory, he said.

Initiative

Prof. V. Sriram, also from the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, said except a few items that they needed to import due to non-availability, rest of the Shallow Wave Basin was truly a ‘Make in India’ initiative.

It was indigenously developed with most of the fabrications of the wavemaker done within IIT Madras itself, he said.

The entire architecture, communications and designs were made in-house for the operations and sustainability of the facility over the long term, he said.

The facility was conceived with the future government of India initiatives in mind for the new ports and coastal engineering as well as for inland waterways projects, he said.

Prof. Torsten Schlurmann who is also a long-term collaborator at IIT Madras added, that the facility will elevate IIT Madras’ status as a world-class institution for marine science and engineering by facilitating ground-breaking research and international collaboration across a broad range of disciplines.

Fundamental understanding

This state-of-the-art research facility can be used for fundamental understanding as well as for application projects, where the influence of 3D waves on the structures can be critical.

The basin can be used for harbour, coastal, offshore, inland waterways and shallow water manoeuvring-related projects, say sources from IIT Madras.

In these studies, sediment transport – mobile bed modelling, stability of the armour units, hydraulic and hydrodynamic performances, wave impact loading and the determination of the relevant design aspects due to climate change can be ascertained.

Key benefits

The key benefits of this facility include testing of varieties of the coastal structures, post impact analysis of the coastal structures, large solar floating plants, climate change effects and many more.

This large-scale facility is one of its kind in the world with mobile wave maker, thus multiple projects can be carried out parallel, if required.

Planning

With the growing development of new ports in Indian coasts, this indigenous facility will help with the planning and is set to become a crucial tool, say sources from IIT Madras.

With the knowledge gained by creating such a large scale facility, IIT Madras is also set to help other institutes like NITs, IITs and research institutes in India to establish such cutting-edge research centres for their academic and research purposes.

Both waves, current and a combination of these can be generated. As of now, due to the available stroke, velocity limits and basin size, for example, a wave period range from 5 s- 18 s with a significant wave height upto 3m can be easily generated in 1:10 scale or in large scale easily.

The circulation facility around the tank can be efficiently used to generate the currents inside the basin, this will be implemented in the near future.

Scientific support

The NTCPWC gives effective solutions to an extensive range of problems being faced in the industry through scientific support.

It also provides valuable education, applied research and technology transfer in maritime transportation at the local, regional, national and International levels.

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