National Road Safety Week concludes

The Road Safety Week, an initiative flagged off by the district administration on April 23, concluded in the city on Monday. On this occasion, free helmets were distributed to reckless riders who, despite repeated warnings and instructions, chose to commute without helmets. 

Active steps were taken by the administration to spread awareness about traffic rules during this week. Guidelines to ideal traffic conditions were also circulated among the residents through various mediums including billboard advertisements. To increase awareness about road safety, various street plays and pedestrian counseling sessions were also organised in the previous week.  

The traffic constables who keep a close watch on the daily commute of people claim that the awareness initiative has helped in spreading the message of obeying traffic rules. Sapan, traffic constable stationed at Jail Chowk said, “The awareness drive has certainly helped and people are becoming more and more aware. The pleasing part is that people have started wearing helmets while riding their two wheelers which was the biggest menace. Only, teenagers who claim to have their network in the media do not wear helmet while zooming on their scooters. Such defaulters are being taken to task by us on a regular basis.”

Another traffic constable stationed at Kutchery Chowk said that people have reduced jumping signals which has smoothened the traffic flow. However, the commoners of the Capital City believe that the increasing traffic can be taken care by widening of the roads. Fahad Qaisar Pall uses a car for his daily commute to his office. He said, “Driving my car, especially at office hours, is no less than a headache. The traffic crawls and on top of it the bikers keep cutting lanes bringing the cars to a complete standstill. I expect the authorities to widen the roads and keep dedicated lanes for cars and bikes.” Speaking on the Road Safety Week, SP, Traffic, Sanjay Ranjan Singh said, "We have executed our plans seriously in forms of awareness initiatives. I am sure there has been an impact on the commuters." He further mentioned that on an average a sum of Rs 2 L per day has been collected as fines. "The collection of fines was a little less during this week since there was strict checking going on due to various events that happened in the previous week. So we were told not to compromise on law and order," added Singh.