SSF: Road Safety Force/Sadak Suraksha Force in Punjab

Last Updated: 27 Nov 2024

SSF is the NEW High Tech 21st century Road Safety Force, manning the highways of Punjab[1]
-- 144 new powerful vehicles bought: 116 High End Toyota Hilux & 28 Scorpio
-- Fitted with specialized equipment to check drunken driving and over speeding
-- Each covering a distance of 30 kilometres

Before SSF, many accident victims went unattended or were helped only by fellow commuters[2]

IMPACT: 45.55% LESS Deaths in Road accidents during Feb-Oct 2024 as compared to same period 2023[2:1]. Details here
-- Feb-Oct 2023: 1,686 deaths were reported, with highest 232 in October
-- Feb-Oct 2024: 768 lives SAVED as Death Count dropped to 918, with highest 124 recorded in October again

Cost Analysis[3]: Most cost-effective road safety measures

-- Socioeconomic cost of a single fatal accident pegged at Rs 1.1 crore
-- SSF’s monthly operational cost is less than 50% of cost of one fatal crash

Impact Report: 1 Feb - 31 Oct 2024 (9 months)[2:2]

Average response time of 6 minute 41 seconds, surpasses the platinum 10-minute benchmark established by developed nations for emergency services

Features[4][1:1]

Phase 2: Focus on enforcing violations such as speeding, drunk driving, use of mobile phone while driving and non-compliance with helmet and seatbelt laws[3:1]

  • Ultra modern force covers 5500 kms of state and national highways
  • 1728 cops immediately deployed; 1296 out of the newly recruited Police personnel
  • Further to be strengthened to 5000 with time
  • SSF is provided powerful Patrolling vehicles; also used for chasing criminals
  • Central Control Room to be setup
  • Anti-corruption measures: Body Cameras will be used to equip Field Officers
  • Initial budget ₹29.5 crores allocated & disbursed already

Special uniforms[3:2]

Uniforms and vehicles were designed for enhanced visibility and safety, particularly for night operations

  • Uniforms feature retroreflective piping and jackets with reflective bands
  • Why Special Uniforms?:National Crime Records Bureau reveals that 650 to 700 police and paramilitary personnel lose their lives every year while on duty and 80-90% of these fatalities are due to road accidents

Women Participation[3:3]

Women were earlier excluded from vehicle driving and maintenance training due to outdated norms

  • SSF became the first Punjab Police unit to have 350 women in motor transport training
  • Women constitute 28% of initial 1600 strength, marking a significant step towards gender equality in law enforcement

Training[3:4]

  • A 12-module course was introduced
  • Covers crash investigation, emergency response, road engineering basics and advanced navigation technology

Data Driven Planning[3:5]

  • Strategic halting points, that have been determined by using three years’ accident data, ensure optimal coverage and response time
  • Patrolling routes and schedules (morning, evening, late night and lean hours) are planned using crowd-sourced data from Google Maps and TomTom, ensuring near-real time response and comprehensive coverage

Ongoing Advanced Upgradation[3:6]

  • Advanced technologies like AI-based surveillance systems, predictive analytics and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) offers opportunities for enhancing efficiency
  • Collaborations with insurance companies, which directly benefit from reduced accidents, could provide additional financial support for the initiative

Tech & Tools[5]

All vehicles have been equipped with ultra modren gadgets like

  • Speed gun
  • Alchometer
  • E-chalan machines
  • AI enabled smart mechanism to check the violation of traffic rules

Deployed Teams[5:1]

The teams will be deployed 24X7 in 8 hour shift each

  • A team of 4 cops headed by officer not less than rank of ASI, as patrol incharge, will be there in the vehicles
  • Road interceptors will be deployed at every district which will be manned by 3 cops

Recovery van

They will also have recovery van along with command and control centre enabled real time CCTV cameras

Tech & Investigation teams

There will be

  • Road crash investigation and mechanical engineers
  • Civil engineers
  • IT experts for handling technical assignments

Vision[4:1][6]

SSF formed to increase road safety & bring down the number of accidents in the state
-- 2021: 4476 lives were lost in 580 road accidents
-- Highway Patrol Routes identified based on the past years' road accidents trends

  • Punjab Govt announced to form a new Road Safety Force/Sadak Suraksha Force (SSF)
    • Launched: 27 Jan 2024[5:2]
    • Cabinet Approval Date: 11 Aug 2023[4:2]
  • SSF has separate uniform[1:2]
  • SSF will also reduce the load from Punjab Police
  • SSF will help people on the roads: help in removing stuck vehicles, trees or any obstructions on the roads with the help of cranes provided to them
  • Nodal Officer: ADGP Traffic AS Rai

Road Safety Research Center

  • India's first such research center for road safety
  • Already completed 1 year under AAP Govt; operating since 27 April 2022
  • Impactful first year too

Read details here:


References:

  1. https://www.bhaskar.com/local/punjab/news/igp-headquarters-sukhchain-singh-gill-press-conference-on-drugs-recovery-arrested-accused-in-punjab-police-operation-131395910.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/road-accident-deaths-punjab-ssf-deployment-9668164/lite/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/punjabs-road-initiative-shows-the-way-to-safer-highways/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=169381&headline=Mann-Cabinet-paves-way-for-Constitution-of-Sadak-Surakhya-Force-in-Punjab ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=178140 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/punjab-to-get-road-safety-force-to-check-accidents-cm-bhagwant-mann-8655300/ ↩︎