Statement by Mr K K Kapila, President Emeritus,  International Road Federation (Geneva)* On recent rating of Maruti & Skoda cars by GNCAP

” Safety is paramount. But such a narrow view by agencies like GNCAP mislead Policy Makers & society from the main topic of Road safety.

There are multiple issues in India like Defective Road Engineering, Driver Licensing system, Basic Enforcement of traffic rules, Pedestrian safety issues etc which are crying for attention. 

To give an example, The International Road Federation (IRF) has conducted a road safety audit on the 70km stretch of National Highway 48 where former Tata Group chairperson Cyrus Mistry and a co-passenger had a fatal crash despite a hi-tech car. That particular stretch of the highway clearly lacked proper maintenance, had inadequate key road markings and had more than necessary gaps in the median.

Another example is worsening safety of Pedestrian or Vulnerable Road users (Pedestrians, Cyclists & Two-wheeler drivers. In last 6 years, their share in total fatalities has increased drastically from 43% to 67%. In metro cities this share is even more than 80%

Hence it is necessary to work on the ground in India rather than just have cars overloaded with hi-tech equipment. Unfortunately, these reports are directly / indirectly funded by sellers of such equipment and take away our attention from the real causes of Road accidents”