Traffic Ki Pathshala: How Gurugram police plan to train students in road rules

GURUGRAM: The idea is to “catch them young”, officials said, referring to the police’s initiative to train and educate school students about traffic rules.
Students from around 55 private schools in the city will attend ‘Traffic Ki Pathshala’ — to be conducted by senior officers of the Gurugram traffic police.
The one-day training session will involve lessons in traffic norms, rules and penalties in cases of violations.
At the end of the day, the students will also get to interact with deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Virender Singh Sangwan.
Police officials said they hope the initiative will serve a dual purpose – encourage students to become responsible citizens, and influence them to impart the significance of following traffic norms to their families and friends.
Last month, traffic police issued 83,462 challans across the city and collected Rs 1.45 crore in fines, official data showed.
Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Sangwan said that one student from each class in the school will be selected for the training programme.
Though 55 schools have tied-up with the traffic police as of now, “any school can approach us to become part of the initiative”, the deputy commissioner of police (traffic) said.
He added: “We hope that students who get the training will become responsible citizens and they will also influence their parents and other family members to follow traffic norms.”
Road accidents claim hundreds of lives every year. Last year, 409 people died in road accidents in Gurugram. This figure was 256 between January and August this year.
Of the 83,462 challans issued in August, around 5,000 were given to commuters driving without high security number plates. Another 1,665 were for overloading in autorickshaws, 871 were for wrong-side driving, and 54 for school bus violations.