TEXT & CONTEXT: IMPLEMENTING A CAR SAFETY PROGRAMME
CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR 24TH AUGUST, 2023
TEXT & CONTEXT: IMPLEMENTING A CAR SAFETY PROGRAMME
• The Ministry of Road and Transport and Highways has rolled out an indigenous star-rating system for crash testing cars.
• Vehicles will be assigned between 1 to 5 stars indicating safety in collision.
• It is called the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) and will come into effect from October 1 of this year.
• This will be a voluntary system.
• Only the base model of a particular variant will be tested.
• Under the NCAP, cars voluntarily nominated by automobile manufacturers will be crash tested as per protocols laid down in the soon-to-be published Automobile Industry Standard 197.
• The progamme is applicable to passenger vehicles with not more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat with gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3,500 kgs.
• The testing protocols adopted by the Bharat NCAP are modelled on the Global NCAP, which is a project of the U.K.-based NGO, Towards Zero Foundation.
• Objective- to help consumers make an informed decision before purchasing a car, thereby spurring demand for safer vehicles.
• What was the need? India sees nearly 1.5 lakh road fatalities in a year, accounting for 10% of deaths due to road crashes globally with only 1% of the world's vehicles.