Moulding human behaviour through data & predictive modelsTalking about his work with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) through his think tank the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoRS), Prof Balasubramanian says that patterns of human behaviour can be tracked and changed by analysing data of their consequences. He responded to questions by senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai on the initiative and said that the Centre’s data analytics model helped reduce the number of road accidents in Tamil Nadu last year. Explaining the process, he said that the model’s analysis of the road fatality figures from Tamil Nadu showed that the nights of December 31 showed a high number of incidents every year, and these accidents occurred on junctions where high-speed roads met low-speed roads. The dominant demographic involved in these accidents was young males. “These men could not afford to attend parties, so they rent bikes and take out rallies on the roads. The first step was to offer them alternatives to these activities, which they could enjoy,” he explained. He added that these insights also enabled the municipal administrations to increase vigilance at junctions to monitor traffic better. The professor cautioned that human behaviour may remain unchanged despite solid data that could influence change. “For example, head injuries being fatal is a hard fact. This still does not make some riders wear their helmets,” he stated. While AI models can map human behaviour and predict it, changing it is where the real challenge lies, said Professor Balasubramanian. “Data is post-facto. We need to build models to ensure that events like this don’t happen,” he asserted.
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