SIAM – SAFE also views road accidents and fatalities
as public health issues and has directed its efforts towards the safety management chain comprising of vehicular technology, road user behaviour, vehicle maintenance and traffic management. In conjunction with emission standards, efforts are also being made to bring safety standards for vehicles on par with international standards.
Road user behaviour plays a vital role in ensuring safety on road. SIAM – SAFE identified vulnerable road users like school children and drivers of heavy vehicles in its efforts towards improving road user behaviour. Soft skill development programme designed by one of its consultants has been imparted to bus and truck driver in several parts of the country. The programme has also been conferred an international award.
SIAM - SAFE has supplemented it efforts with extensive awareness campaigns aimed at spreading the message that vehicles need to be periodically maintained to ensure vehicles are road worthy and do not emit more than the prescribed limits.
We consider our efforts a beginning and hope to build on them; learn from the experience of other countries and share our experiences with countries who may wish to replicate them.
In our endeavours we have received considerable support from national and international agencies and over the years we have forged strong linkages with national and international agencies on the basis of a common commitment to sustainable development. Some of the international agencies with whom we have worked and/ or have memorandum of understanding with an overall objective to share best practices:
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- British High Commission
- Clean Air Initiative-Asia (An initiative of ADB & The World Bank)
- Environment Departments in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Taiwan and other Asian Countries
- Louis Berger
- Mitra Emisi Bersih (an environmental organization working on Clean Air, Indonesia)
- Nepal Automobile Dealers Association & Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders, UK (SMMT)
- The World Bank
- United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- United States Asia Environmental Partnership (USAEP)
- United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA)
- Vietnam Register