Recognising the complicated nature of the road safety crisis, the network has been focusing on multiple approaches towards the problem. We have been mainly looking at the following methods simultaneously with the aim of creating the greatest impact in least time.
At the policy level, India stands at a crucial point in terms of getting the outdated Motor Vehicle Act amended in the Parliament. At the State level, Maharashtra has made a state level Action Plan for Road Safety, but little has been done to get it implemented. Pursuing its implementation has been one of our goals. The network has been tirelessly pursuing this process of passing the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill in the Parliament.
This also involves trying to constantly engage with policy makers, political representatives and government officials for change.
The Network aims to build citizen awareness through various activities such as holding public meetings in different cities of Maharashtra and Gujarat, as well as online engagement through the Facebook page. The aim is to be able to garner popular support for important road safety principles, equipping citizens with information so they can intelligently demand safer roads from authorities.
At the outset the network observed the crucial role of media in bringing about a change in the road safety scenario. Developing better reportage of road safety issues through constant engagement and training has been a focus of the network.
The network proactively takes up studies and analyses on issues of importance to road safety from time to time. This helps build a strong base for advocacy, along with the use and curation of existing data such as court cases, data and statistics, government documents and so on.
The Road Safety Network is currently working actively in Maharashtra and Gujarat, while actively engaging on issues of national importance on road safety.
