The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways organised the 28th Road Safety Week from 9th to 15th January 2017 with the objective of spreading awareness about the issue of Road Safety. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways 2015 report states that about 1,46,133 people lost their lives and 5,00,279 were injured in road accidents in India. National Safety Council of India along with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways started with the idea of the Road Safety Week. The aim was to emphasise and highlight the need of safe roads travel by applying simple rules.
Delhi Traffic Police and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) kick-started the National Road Safety Week 2017 in New Delhi. Activities during the week include volunteer deployment at prominent locations in the capital city carrying Road Safety messages. In addition various awareness camps and nukkad nataks (street plays) are being organised. The ministry is looking to incorporate companies, especially major automobile companies to promote road safety as a part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. This year corporate houses across the country too participated actively to increase involvement and awareness.
JK Tyres promoted safe driving particularly among truck drivers, educating more than 40,000 drivers at training programmes held annually throughout the country. The company’s campaign, ‘Drive Safely, Drive Responsibly, Stay in Total Control’ raised awareness about the importance of tyres as the only direct point of contact between a vehicle and the road.
Dr. Sagar Kakad, (MBBS, MRCEM) from UK at the auditorium of Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre conducted a first aid training program followed by a free eye check-up for the RTO office staff and the applicant for renewals of licences at Tardeo, Mumbai.
In keeping with the theme of ‘pedestrian safety’, the need and essence of road safety rules, including traffic lights, speed limits, pedestrian rules, wearing seat belts while driving the car etc. for civilians were emphasised upon. Besides one lakh people who loose their lives annually in road accidents; some of them suffer from life threatening problems such as mental trauma, loss of memory, loss of hand or legs for the rest of their life. Such situations especially in India, increases the importance and necessity of the road safety measures.
Government statistics bring to light that 1 road accident occurs every four minutes in India, which in-turn accounts for 12.5% of global road accidents. The United Nations mentions that India suffers a loss of $58 billion annually due to accidents. In 2012, 48,768 lives were lost in road accidents on the national highways with the number increasing to 51,204 in 2015.
United Spirits Limited (USL), a Diageo Group Company, hosted a National Conclave in the presence of Nitin Gadkari. The conclave discussed different issues affecting the safety of Indian citizens on roads within the cities and national highways. Participants also discussed the salient features of the Road Safety Bill of 2016, the menace of drinking and driving and the increasing number of deaths on national highways due to irresponsible driving. Present was Bollywood Actor, Gul Panag.
‘Safest Car, Safest Driver’ a drive conducted by Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) held a two day driver training program and health check-up camp for airport taxi drivers in Hyderabad. This initiative was undertaken with the objective to engage and educate airport taxi drivers on the traffic safety challenges and sensitise them about common errors.
Shekar Viswanathan, Vice Chairman & Whole-Time Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “Health and safety are two major concerns which are often neglected in the automobile industry, especially taxi drivers. Taxi drivers are exposed to lot of health problems as a direct result of erratic working hours, stress, poor posture, lack of proper diet, bad weather, pollution and most important being lack of adequate sleep. The transport is an integral part of public transport system carrying millions of passengers every year. With this initiative we aim at inculcating a strong safety culture in drivers and effectively reduce road accidents on Indian roads.’’
India, which has a huge population of road travellers such as two, three and four wheelers on the road, needs to be aware and abide by road safety rules. Different stakeholders such as the community, transport sector, insurance sector, health sector, police, legal sector, educational institutions, highway engineers, vehicle manufacturers, public agencies, NGOs etc. can combine their efforts. In all of the activities and campaigns, students are given a big opportunity to participate in the road safety week programme. In order to bring about change, the youth of the country needs to be sensistised first. Each of us needs to speak about the importance of safe driving emphasising on heightening public awareness on the subject and laud the efforts of stakeholders.
