A web portal designed by the government in consultation with insurance companies will provide instant information on road accidents with a few clicks and help accelerate accident compensation claims, bringing relief to victims’ families.
The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed the portal named ‘e-DAR’ (e-Detailed Accident Report). Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) will be uploaded on the portal for easy access. The web portal will be linked to the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD). From iRAD, applications to more than 90% of the datasets would be pushed directly to the e-DAR. Stakeholders like the police, road authorities, hospitals, etc., are required to enter very minimal information for the e-DAR forms. Thus, e-DAR would be an extension and e-version of iRAD.
An apex court Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul expressed satisfaction after technicians demonstrated the working of the portal to the court and amicus curiae, advocate N. Vijayaraghavan and advocate Vipin Nair.
The court, in its detailed order, recorded that e-DAR portal would conduct multiple checks against fake claims by conducting a sweeping search of vehicles involved in the accident, the date of accident, and the First Information Report number.
The portal would be linked to other government portals like Vaahan and would get access to information on driving licence details and registration of vehicles.
For the benefit of investigating officers, the portal would provide geo tagging of the exact accident spot along with the site map. This would notify the investigating officer on his distance from the spot of the incident in the event the portal is accessed from any other location.
Details like photos, video of the accident spot, damaged vehicles, injured victims, eye-witnesses, etc., would be uploaded immediately on the portal.
“Apart from the state police, an engineer from the Public Works Department or the local body will receive an alert on his mobile device and the official concerned will then visit the accident site, to examine it, and feed the required details, such as the road design. Hotspots for accidents would also be identified so as to obtain solutions to avoid accidents at these hotspots,” the apex court’s order noted.
It said that a report submitted by the government in court suggested that data with respect to motor accidents for 24 States has already been uploaded.
The court suggested the use of artificial intelligence technology for the portal.
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