In Quest To Prevent Accidents, India Experiments With Cattle Alerts For Drivers

NEW DELHI- As a part of road safety initiatives to prevent accidents caused by sudden cattle movement on National Highways, the NHAI, in collaboration with telecom companies, has launched a pilot initiative to deliver real-time safety alerts to motorists approaching stray cattle–prone zones.

The initiative is aimed at reducing accidents caused by sudden cattle movement on the National Highways, particularly during fog and low-visibility conditions, according to an official statement issued on January 14.

A pilot is being implemented on the Jaipur–Agra and Jaipur–Rewari National Highway corridors, which have been identified as areas prone to stray cattle movement. Under the pilot project, location-based alerts will be triggered for the National Highway commuters, providing advance warnings approximately 10 km before identified high-risk stretches. This will provide commuters with lead time to take precautionary measures, the statement said.

To ensure effective communication with National Highway commuters during the pilot project, safety advisories will be delivered through a Flash SMS in Hindi, asking motorists to slow down as there is cattle movement ahead. This will be followed by a voice alert conveying the same safety message. To prevent alert fatigue, repeat alerts will not be issued to the same user within a 30-minute window.

Alerts will be generated based on mapped cattle-prone zones identified through historical accident data and field-level inputs, and will be delivered using the upgraded telecom infrastructure.

Based on the outcomes and effectiveness of the pilot, the NHAI will evaluate the possibility of scaling up this initiative to other stray cattle–prone zones, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve road safety and enhance user experience on National Highways across the country, the statement added. (IANS)