Ola sets up ‘safety council’ for road safety
Ride-hailing firm Ola said that it had set up a first-of-its-kind ‘safety council’ which would work with the government and other key stakeholders to develop solutions for addressing road safety challenges. This includes reducing the number of casualties due to road accidents and improving safety for women. Ola said it would work alongside policy makers, state transport authorities, traffic police departments, and other relevant stakeholders to create solutions that enhance ride and road safety on Ola as well as the ecosystem at large. It will bring together members’ knowledge, data, technology, and local networks and will focus on areas to make the greatest impact. “The intent is to galvanise public-private partnerships through a multi-stakeholder approach bringing in measurable impact,” said Nitesh Prakash, senior director, operations at Ola, in a statement.
Ola said each year, 1.5 lakh people are killed and 5 lakh injured on Indian roads, which is highest in the world. It said the government has resolved to reduce the number of road accidents and deaths by half by 2020.
“The socio-economic consequences of road accidents are an estimated $58 billion, 3% of India’s gross domestic product,” said Amar Srivastava, founder and president, Solve and Ola’s ‘safety council’ member.
“I hope in line with their objective and commitment towards safety and security of women Ola is going to undertake a large-scale initiative for training the 10 lakh drivers and integrate ‘Gender Equity for Gender Transformation’ as their core value,” said Dr. Ranjana Kumari, director at Centre for Social Research, which is one of the member organisations of the ‘safety council.’
