Mohali
15 January 2020
DIVYA AZAD
In a road safety event hundreds of people joined the road safety campaign at Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC) Landran here today. The event organised by NGO, Drive Smart Drive Safe, supported by Hella India Lighting Ltd. saw a pledge taking ceremony and a one-minute silence in memory of road accident victims. This was followed by a walkathon and a human chain was formed on the occasion.
Over 12 people daily lose their lives in accidents on Punjab roads, latest statistics reveal. Even when death figures due to accidents have seen a declining trend most deaths (86 percent) are those of males in 25 to 35 age group and 14 percent are those of females in Punjab. The figures were shared by Dr. Navdeep Asija, Traffic Adviser, Punjab, here today.
Meanwhile, Dr S.S. Chauhan ADGP Traffic Punjab who was the chief guest on the event, while speaking on the occasion said, “We need to change the traffic culture to bring down fatalities in accidents. Across the country 415 people are daily killed in road accidents, which is much more that lives lost on account of terrorism across nation.” He stressed that the Japanese have set an example by following the traffic culture and not breaking the rules, adding, over 70 percent families in urban areas and 50 percent in rural have been left below poverty line after having lost their bread-earners in accidents.”
“Travelling on Indian roads is extremely risky & there are many overlapping reasons for such alarming road crashes in our country, but one sure solution is to change ourselves so that the country can change”, said, Rama Shankar Pandey, MD-Hella India Lighting Ltd. He added, it’s not just a one-off campaign during the Road Safety Week but a long term commitment to positively reinforce safe driving by forming drive safe clubs.
Mr Harman Singh Sidhu, President of Arrive Safe, said, “As we enter the final year of the U.N. Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, we have not been able to curtail the rising graph of fatalities forget about achieving the target of reducing them by 50 percent because of unsafe roads.”
Dr. Amarpal Singh State Transport Commissioner Punjab, and Mr Kuldeep Singh Chahal SSP Mohali were among the other prominent dignitaries at the event. Students were colleges & volunteers from corporates also joined the programme.
NGO, Drive Smart Drive Safe along with Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) , CII, Hella India Lighting Ltd. and many other like-minded organisations launched the campaign titled IndiaAgainstRoadCrash #IARC2020 during the 31st National Road safety week as announced by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
The campaign started on 11th January, from Attari Wagah Border where around 50,000 people took the safety pledge in one go which itself is a record. The campaign which has Principal Sponsor as Mahindra & Associate partner as Wabco & Brakes India and is supported by Hella, among others. Rotary Clubs, Schools & Colleges, Traffic Police organizations across the country are also expected to join the campaign in different parts of the country.
