IIT Delhi professor Dinesh Mohan dies due to COVID-19

NEW DELHI: The brains behind Delhi Bus Rapid Transit, Dinesh Mohan, an honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi died of COVID-19 on Friday.

"He was under treatment at St Stephen's Hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19. He passed away this morning due to a cardiac arrest. He was a stalwart in areas of road safety and transportation, and made immense contributions to research in the area," IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao said.

Against popular opinion, Mohan, through the BRT corridors in Delhi, tried to prioritize road safety for buses at the expense of cars, the Times of India reported. The project was later scrapped by the Aam Aadmi Party Government.

Founder of Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP), Mohan, 75, started his career with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Washington DC, USA. He was with IIT Delhi’s Centre for Biomedical Engineering since 1976.

Mohan is also known for his work in areas of advancing motorcycle helmet design, pedestrian and bicyclist safety and child restraint regulations, vehicle crashworthiness and road safety research, design of safer truck fronts, analysis of highway crashes, analysis of tractor driver vibrations, and interaction between safety and environmental policies and developing safer ways for various modes of transportation to safely share the roadways.

A colleague of Mohan, Geetam Tiwari, another IIT-D teacher, told The Indian Express that in 1991, Mohan had coined the term “vulnerable road users”. Despite his expertise in biomechanics, Mohan started working on pedestrians and non-motorised transport. He was part of all major national committees on road safety, Tiwari further said. Mohan is survived by his wife, linguist and author Peggy Mohan, and daughter Shivani Mohan, who stays in the US, The Indian Express reported.

An alumnus of IIT Bombay and the University of Michigan, Mohan is also credited with publishing some of the earliest studies on the limited role of hard shells in motorcycle helmets, mechanical properties of human soft tissues at very high strain rates, head injury criteria for children, safety of three-wheeled scooter taxis, and bringing national attention to burn injuries caused by fireworks during the Diwali festival in India and agricultural injuries due to farm machines.

"Deeply shocked to learn about the passing of a giant of #injury prevention. Dinesh Mohan was an innovative, driven and fun leader in the field. Co-founder of the series of World Conferences and visionary #roadsafety champion. He leaves a huge legacy. Rest in peace my friend," Etienne Krug, Director Social Determinants of Health at WHO, said in a tweet.

“It is a huge loss for all the faculty, students and staff at TRIPP, IIT Delhi and all those known to him at the Institute and the Traffic safety community in India and the rest of the World. We all pray the almighty to give his family the strength to overcome this huge loss. May his soul rest in peace,” IIT Delhi said in a statement.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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