As per industry reports, India accounts for 12.5% (over 1,45,000 fatalities a year) of global road accidents, with one road accident occurring every four minutes. Alarmingly, 72% victims involved in such road mishaps are between the age groups of 15-44 years. Overspeeding, reckless driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol are the top reasons attributed to road traffic accidents and fatalities. In the past few months,various cities, under the initiative of local cops, conducted road safety awareness campaign.
In order to achieve better efficiency and effectiveness, the Palghar Police, along with its traffic and regional transport office held its 30th Road Safety initiative in February this year. An awareness campaign with the support of local schools and college NCC students was held. The campaign was conducted under the supervision of Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Vikas Naik.
“Road safety awareness is one of the most important topics of concern as incidents of road accidents have increased phenomenally. We should be well aware of road safety measures and rules so that the number of accidents can be controlled,” said a police officer attached to the campaign. If rules are followed properly, the number of accidents will be reduced, and traffic problems will also be resolved,” he added.
The awareness rally got a green signal from the Palghar SDPO, Vikas Naik.
The awareness programme included providing information about traffic rules and regulations to avoid road accidents. “We printed banners with details on road safety. In order to ensure better reach, pamphlets were printed and distributed to people to spread awareness amongst them,” said Naik.
“We are trying our best to educate local citizens about road safety, traffic rules and regulations. Citizens should also participate in the campaign and help cops spread and cover a large number of audience. Apart from this, we are active on Twitter and Facebook. We are getting a positive response from the locals,” said a senior police officer from the RTO Department.
Citizens Talk
“Observing road safety is very important, especially in Virar, as the number of vehicles on the roads has increased. Regular travellers ought to have knowledge about safety norms. The local police is doing a great job by providing vital information about road safety through social media and by conducting campaigns, etc.,” said Pratik Mishra, Student – BMS.
“Local cops have definitely become tech savvy. I follow them on social media platforms. We should support cops to spread awareness about road safety among the youth so that the number of road accidents will reduce. Thumbs up to the city cops and to their initiative,”said Rohit Jadhav, IT Engineer from Navi Mumbai.
“Road safety week is one of the best initiatives of the Central Government. The importance of road safety should be an important topic for school students. Recently, cops from the RTO Department visited many colleges and explained the importance of road safety. They provided us with vital information regarding Road Safety Week and requested us to promote it on social media platforms,” said Shreyas Bomkar, a TY B.Com student.
“Our aim is to provide road safety information to road users and encourage safer road user behaviour among current and prospective road users,” said a cop attached to the Road Safety Campaign.
The local sleuths also conducted bike rallies around Vasai and Virar areas to spread awareness.
Road Safety Statistics in Maharashtra
Maharashtra reported 12,264 deaths in 35,853 road accidents in 2018.
In a written reply, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, told the Lower House that 20,465 people were injured in these mishaps. Fadnavis also stated that 9,243 accidents took place on State roads between January and March 2018 in which 3361 people died. Urban areas reported 27% of the accidents during January-March period, while remaining mishaps occurred in rural areas.
The percentage of deaths in rural and urban areas was 83% and 17% respectively, Fadnavis added.
Referring to the National Crime Record Bureau Report for 2015, the CM said the State was ranked third in the country as far as the number of road accidents are concerned.
Responding to another question, Fadnavis said that 938 people were killed in accidents on the Mumbai-Pune Highway; 166 lost their lives at the Mumbai-Goa National Highway in Raigad district between 2014 and May 2018. A total of 2322 individuals received serious injuries whereas 932 suffered minor injuries in these accidents, he added.
The Chief Minister informed that there are 1324 accident-prone areas in the State. He also listed several measures taken by the Government to curb the number of accidents, including implementation of road safety policy, construction of speed breakers at accident-prone locations and initiation of action against motorists who violate norms.
