India’s govt needs to study road accident causes, says Michelin manager

As part of the SIMCOMVEC – SAEINDIA International Mobility Conference & Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress that took place in Chennai, India between 4 and 7 December, the vice-president of norms and regulations at Michelin Tyres Pvt Ltd, Randall Clark, presented a paper titled “Improving Safety on Indian Roads, Technology & Policy changes required.” Clark also spoke to local media and called for India’s government to conduct accidentology studies.

Speaking with Indian Autos Blog, Clark noted that “technologies can’t be copy pasted” – road conditions in countries such as India differ dramatically from those found in other parts of the world. He told IAB it is important for India’s government to analyse the causes of road accidents in the country – something he added should be done before OEMS invest in implementing active and passive safety technologies in Indian-market vehicles. “I would certainly advocate for that if I got the chance to speak to the government agencies,” he added.

According to clark, vehicle kilometres – the number of vehicles on the road multiplied by the distance the cover – is rising at an annual rate of seven per cent in India, an amount he said “is the fastest across the world.”