The recent WHO Pre-Conference Workshop, held as part of World Safety 2024 at the India Habitat Centre, introduced two significant initiatives aimed at enhancing road safety coverage in the media. The workshop was organised by Asian Road Safety Academy India with WHO as the supporting partner. These initiatives— a Road Safety Awareness Toolkit for Media Professionals and a Joint Fellowship Program—seek to equip journalists with the tools and knowledge needed to improve public understanding of road safety issues in India.
Promoting Ethical Reporting
The Road Safety Awareness Toolkit is designed to provide media professionals with resources for responsible and sensitive reporting on road crashes. It includes guidelines on ethical storytelling, strategies for leveraging social media to raise awareness, and tools to create compelling narratives that promote safe driving practices and compliance with traffic laws. The toolkit encourages journalists to shift the focus from sensationalism to meaningful stories that can influence public attitudes and encourage road safety reforms.
Fellowship Programme
In addition to the toolkit, the workshop launched a Joint Fellowship Program to foster collaboration between journalists and road safety experts. The program aims to highlight real-life stories of road crash victims, explore the root causes of accidents, and examine the wider social implications of traffic fatalities. Through in-depth research and reporting, the fellowship seeks to raise awareness about road safety and push for policy changes to reduce accidents and save lives.
Contributions From Road Safety Advocates & Media Experts
Dr Prerana Arora Singh, Managing Director of the Asian Road Safety Academy India, stressed the crucial role the media plays in shaping public perceptions of road safety. 'These initiatives equip journalists with the necessary tools to effectively communicate the harsh realities of road crashes and advocate for change,' she said during the event.
Prominent media professionals and road safety advocates participated in the workshop, offering insights on the current challenges in road safety. Dipak Dash, Senior Journalist at The Times of India, delivered a keynote address highlighting the key issues in road design and infrastructure that contribute to road accidents. Lotte Brondum, Executive Director of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, presented global best practices for ethical road safety reporting, emphasising the media's role in influencing policy and public behaviour.
Addressing Road Design & Technology Solutions
The workshop also included technical sessions led by experts like Dr Shiv Kumar Sharma, Director General of ITS India Forum, who moderated discussions on the Safe System Approach, road engineering, and the use of technology to empower media professionals in road safety reporting. Matts Belin, Global Lead for the Decade of Action on Road Safety from the World Health Organisation, focused on local research and capacity building, stressing the need for data-driven reporting to improve road safety outcomes.
Sumantra B Barooah, Consulting Editor at ET Auto, and T Murrali, our Managing Editor, contributed insights on the use of media to shift public attitudes and create effective road safety campaigns. Additionally, Sarika Panda of the Raahgiri Foundation shared a successful case study on the implementation of safe infrastructure for non-motorised road users, particularly pedestrians, women, and children. The case study demonstrated the positive impact of such infrastructure on reducing road fatalities and promoting safer urban mobility.
UN's Sustainable Development Goals
The workshop also aligned its discussions with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to road safety, focusing on targets such as reducing traffic deaths (SDG 3.6) and ensuring access to safe, affordable transport for all (SDG 11.2). Technical sessions covered a wide range of topics, from gender mobility to road design, highlighting how technological interventions can help achieve these global objectives.
By equipping journalists with the right resources and fostering collaborations with road safety experts, these initiatives aim to promote responsible reporting, raise public awareness, and ultimately contribute to reducing road accidents and fatalities in India.