DINESH MOHAN MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM 7 - 9 September 2022, Senate Room, IIT Delhi

Introduction

Professor Dinesh Mohan passed away due to COVID-19 on 21st May 2021. He was a bioengineer who specialized in road safety and injury prevention and human rights. 

Dinesh had a long illustrious academic career at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi from 1977 to 2021. He contributed to a wide range of fields, ranging from traffic safety, biomechanics to sustainable transport, pUblic transport, and human rights issues. 

His writings on traffic safety in low- and middle- income countries reflect the best principles of injury prevention. After his retirement from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, he founded ICoRSI (Independent Council for Road Safety International) to provide rapid, independent, and evidence-based information on road safety policy and practice to policy makers and the public.

 

Course Objectives

Dinesh Mohan memorial symposium is to honour his contribution to various fields. The symposium will result in a Festschrift in memory of Dinesh Mohan. 

Participants

Invite speakers of the respective fields.

Host Institution

Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

 

Supported by

Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF), Sweden

 

Course Outline

7th September 2022

0945 – 1015	ICoRSl lntroduction Dr. Mathew Varghese, Director (ICORSI)   About Campbell Foundation and ICoRSI-EGM Howard White, Campbell Foundation
1015 – 1100	Post-crash and Pre-hospital Care Chair: Dr. Amit Gupta Speaker: Dr. Mathew Varghese
1130 – 1215	Road design. Infrastructure and Traffic Control Chair: Manoranjan Parida (Director CRRI) Speaker: Geetam Tiwari
1215 – 1300	Vehicle Factors and Protective Device Speaker: Kavi Bhalla
14.00 - 14.45	Human Factors Chair: B.S.Jaiswal, IPS, Delhi Police Speaker: Rahul Goel
1445 – 1530	Legal and Institutional Framework Speaker: Girish Agarwal
1530 – 1600	Questions & Closing Remarks Barry Sheerman, Chairperson ICORSI, MP, UK
1700 - 1830	Dinesh Mohan Memorial Symposium Chair: Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director IITD Introductory Remarks: Jane Summerton & Henrik Nolmark, VREF
	Dinesh Mohan Memorial Lecture 2022 "Transforming Urban Mobility for Sustainability and Safety" Speaker: Dr. V. Sumantran Discussant: Vinay Piparsania, Anil Kumar
1830 – 1930	HIGH TEA

 

Day 2 1 8 September 2022 Thursday

09.30 - 11.00 I Road traffic Injuries and Unintentional Injuries

Chair: Ramashankar Pandey

Moderator: Yves Page

Panelists: Brian 0 Neill, Karin Brolin, Sudipto Mukherjee, Sunil Kale, Adarsh Kumar

Convenor: Prof. Saichand

 Unintentional injuries, among which road traffic injuries are particularly important, are a leading cause of death in most countries globally. Although a large amount of attention is focused on trying to change risky behaviors through education or punishment (enforcement), many high-income countries have successfully implemented structural interventions that improved the design of roads, cars, and trauma systems in addition to improving behaviors. This philosophy of "safety by design" was core to Professor Mohan's lifelong work on this topic, which he applied to many areas of unintentional injuries, including traffic injuries, agricultural injuries, burns, among others. 

 

1130 - 1300 I Human Rights

Chair: Ravish Kumar

Moderator: Achin Vanaik

Panelists: Tapan Bose, Harsh Mander, Navsharan Singh, Nitya Ramakrishnan

Convenor; Ruchi Varma

The concept of human rights is relatively new. It came into everyday parlance only since the Second World War, the founding of the United Nations in 1945, and the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The theoretical justification of human rights is based on a wide range of values that enhance human agency and protect human interests. Human rights are quintessentially universal in character, and is possessed by all human beings everywhere, including in certain instances even the unborn. It should be noted that the three generations of rights have not been equally accepted by everyone. The debate reflects the struggle for power between economic and social classes on the conceptions of the "good society.

 

14.00 - 15.30 I Sustainable Urban Areas

Chair: Tikender Panwar

Moderator: KT Ravindran

Panelists: Herman Knotlacher, Gautam Bhan, Darshini Mahadevia, Mark Stevenson

Dunu Roy

Convenor: Sandeep Gandhi

Most cities in the world are grappling with issues concerning sustainable urban systems including transportation and safety on the streets. In nature, stable and sustainable systems have two characteristics: all species, including human beings, grow to maturity and then stop growth, and all have negative feedback systems to maintain homeostasis. At present, no nation is contemplating limiting its economic growth, no matter how rich it is. Unless our urban systems build in negative feedback loops against excess consumption and positive feedback for less travel, we are unlikely to see much progress. Most Indian cities have evolved organically mostly by defying formal plans and growing around informal sector housing, business and work. How does this address the 21st century challenges for ensuring sustainable urban patterns? .

 

15.30 - 17.00 I Pre Hospital Care

Chair: Dr.Atul Goel

Moderator: Mathew Varghese

Panelists: Ian Roberts, Amit Gupta, H.S.Chabbra, Sumit Sural

Convenor: Rahul Goel

The processes and the science of emergency care of the injured are still evolving. The lack of empirical data on the benefit of many pre-hospital care interventions remains a serious problem. Patient transfer to a definitive care facility has been a widely discussed area for pre hospital care. Different kinds of ambulances have been designed for transporting patients. In high income countries over 90% of patients are transported by ambulances, whereas in low Income countries like India and Africa most patients are transported in taxies, private cars and police vehicles. One of the dilemmas of pre-hospital care has been 'are we doing too little for a damage which seems too much?

 

Day 3 I 9 September 2022 I Friday

09.30 - 11.00 I Environment Pollution

Chair: Divya Datt

Moderator: Carlos Dora

Panelists: Sarath Gunikunda, Purnima Prabhakaran, Shreekant Gupta, Anumita

Roychowdhary

Convenor: Leeza Malik

In low-income and middle-income countries, urbanisation is associated with an increased health burden from non-communicable diseases. Recent studies have reported that more than three-quarters of the people in India are exposed to pollution levels higher than the limits recommended by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in India and significantly higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization. Increase in the distances walked and cycled also lead to large health benefits. Largest health gains would be from reductions in the prevalence of ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, depression, dementia, and diabetes. Are the current policies addressing these issues? Do we have enough data and evidence to support the current policies?

 

11.30 - 13.00 I Active Transport (walking I bicycling)

Chair: OP Agrawal

Moderator: Ranjit Gadgil

Panelists: Shrikant Bangdiwala, Andres Villaveces, Francesca Racioppi, Ralph

Buelher, Winnie Mitullah, Shefalika Goenka

Convenor: Himani Jain

Increasing use of walking and cycling is now recognised as an important behavioural intervention to mitigate climate change. Active travel also contributes to population health through physical activity. Cities in India, however, are experiencing a decline in walking and cycling levels. Danger from traffic is a major deterrent for uptake of active travel. In the context of high income inequality, such as in India, it is often those without any other alternative that continue to walk or cycle despite the risks involved. There is a need for cities to adopt a health-centric approach to transport planning that gives priority to walking, cycling and pUblic transport. This session will focus on these issues as they relate to India and other LMICs.

 

14.00 - 15.30 I Public Transport

Chair: Ram Manohar Reddy

Moderator: Sanjeev Sahai

Panelists: Jason Chang, P.S.Kharola, Partho Mukhopadhyay, Mukund Sinha

Convenor: Richa Ahuja

Bus based pUblic transport continues to be the backbone of a sustainable city. Bus ridership has been in the decline in Indian cities for various reasons. An easy and inexpensive access to motorised two-wheeler poses a major challenge, which is seen as a convenient, and fuel efficient option by a large number of urban commuters. Safety of bus users inside and outside the vehicles remains one of the most important aspects. which influences the decision to use or not use the bus system. All pUblic transport systems are dependent on access and egress trips, primarily walking trips. What are the challenges and opportunities for ensuring a vibrant, inclusive and clean bus system in Indian cities?

 

15.30 -17.00 I Institutions, organizations and governance

Chair: Ravi Srinivasan

Moderator: Maria Segui Gomez

Panelists : Rakesh Mohan, Tony Bliss, Melecki Khayesi, Sanjay Mitra

Convenor: Mukti Advani 

 Institutions have a played a very important role in promoting traffic safety as a science in most high-income countries. During the decade of road safety promoted by the WHO in 2011. many LMICs established different institutional set up to address road safety. However, the impact of these institutions is not very visible in the road safety outcomes. An institution once established in a country continue to function for a long time. There are also methodological challenges in evaluating the impact of institutions. Just as a legislation works through its enforcement, institutions do not have a direct impact on safety. They improve road safety through formulation of mUltiple interventions, and it's the latter that are evaluated in road safety studies.