Mangalore: 24th National Road Safety Week inaugurated

Mangalore: 24th National Road Safety Week inaugurated

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Jan 7, 2013: The 24th National Road Safety Week organized by the DK District Administration in association with Regional Transport Department and Police Department was inaugurated at Town Hall on January 7, Monday.

Speaking after inaugurating the event, Dr Shantharam Shetty, Vice-Chancellor of Nitte University said that around 50 crore people die in road accidents every year in the world. While the number of deaths due to accidents stood at 1.2 lakh in India, it was 37,000 in the US due to increased awareness among the citizens, he added.

 

 

 

Presently, one person dies in road accidents in every three minutes in India, Dr Shetty said  and pointed out  that 78% of the deaths in road accidents were  due to negligence of  drivers. He therefore stressed the need to sensitize drivers on the pertinent issue. “ Every driver or rider must consider the drivers of the oncoming vehicles as their friends and the pedestrians as family members and refrain from reckless driving,” he said.

 He said laws need to be modified so that drivers responsible for deaths in road accidents should be put behind bars.

 Western Range IGP Prathap Reddy, said globally, the death rate  due to accidents was more than the death due to crime. On the tint glass ban in vehicles, he said the traffic police have removed the tint of 10,000 vehicles so far.

 DC N Prakash, said each and every individual must consider it his duty to adhere to traffic rules. Wearing seat belts and  refraining from using mobile phone while driving, are some small steps that can be taken to reduce accidents, he added.

 Presiding over the event, Deputy Speaker N Yogish Bhat emphasized the need to hold awareness campaigns for motorists.  He also urged the RTO to ensure strict adherence to the rule of conducting a driving test before sanctioning driving licence.

IGP Prathap Reddy released the poster of campaign. City Police Commissioner Manish Kharbikar released a book on ‘Road Rules and Safety’ authored by Sajipa Muhammed Nasir.

DC N Prakash distributed insurance Policy to the auto drivers and Dr Shantharam Shetty distributed First Aid kits sponsored by Red Cross Society to auto drivers.