Autocar Professional will host the 5th edition of its annual safety webinar on Monday, May 6 (2:30pm to 5:00pm IST). This year, the webinar will focus on the theme 'Towards Safer Mobility Regulations & Technologies', and will also kick off the fifth UN Global Road Safety Week (May 6-12, 2019).

As in the four earlier automotive safety webinars, this year too will see a panel of international and domestic industry experts representing the OEM and component supplier industries, government agencies and global organisations discuss, debate and share knowledge on new and future regulations, technologies and consumer trends that impact road safety, how road crashes, fatalities and injuries can be reduced. 

The panelists this year are Ramashankar Pandey, managing director, Hella India Lighting, AV Mannikar, senior deputy director, head (passive safety), ARAI, Alejandro Furas, technical director, Global NCAP, and Sudeep Narayan, communications director, Volvo Car India.

2019 is set to be a key year for automotive safety in India as a number of mandatory regulations have either already kicked in or are set to be introduced in the coming months. As is widely known, India has the highest road fatalities in the world. In 2017, road accidents in India claimed 1,47,913 lives in 2017 and left 4,70,975 injured.

From April 1, ABS for 125cc and above two-wheelers and all new four-wheelers was made mandatory. From July 1, all new cars will have to be equipped with a driver-side airbag, a speed warning system, a seatbelt reminder for driver and co-driver, and rear parking sensors as standard.  Later in the year, from October 1, new crash test norms will come into force where passenger vehicles will be tested for full-frontal impact at 48kph, offset-frontal impact with fixed deformable barrier at 56kph and side impact with a mobile deformable barrier at 50kph. This means a number of OEMs will have to heavily re-engineer older models (or even discontinue them entirely) to meet the new norms.

In effect, 2019 could be the end of the road for many older models in India – all efforts that speak volumes for safer vehicles and safer motoring in India.

Register for the webinar

To register for the Autocar Professional's safety webinar click https://bit.ly/2Ip4grB, and also share the link in your personal and professional network.

India needs to develop a culture of road safety and improved dissemination of the right information is vital. The safety webinar, whose lead sponsor is Hella India Lighting, will give you a chance to listen to top industry experts share their in-depth knowledge of the subject.

You also have an opportunity to air your queries on the subject. Therefore, save the date and lock the time – May 6 (2.30pm onwards).