Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar today said that enforcement of traffic regulations and awareness regarding road safety measures is essential for preventing road accidents. The Advisor made these comments while inaugurating 31st National Road Safety Week, being observed from January 11 to January 17, 2020 across Jammu and Kashmir, at Gulshan Ground here.
Highlighting the importance of National Road Safety Week, the Advisor said that road transport accidents are preventable and it is very much important that awareness programmes are organised with active involvement of youth and school children to prevent such accidents.
Addressing the gathering, Advisor Rajeev Bhatnagar urged upon the participants particularly the school children and youth that they can sensitise the parents and their friends regarding the road safety measures and regulations, which can help in improving the traffic management system of J&K.
Talking about a unique 3-E’s formula regarding road safety measures, the Advisor said that 3-E’s i.e. Engineering (Proper Road Infrastructure), Enforcement (of traffic rules) and Education (awareness among masses) need to be focused on for preventing traffic accidents.
Speaking about various schemes in his address, the Advisor said that the government has also launched the Road Accident Victim Fund with a corpus of 1 crore for the victims of road accidents. He further said that Road Accident Data Management System (RADMS) has already been launched which will provide actionable inputs for preventing accidents by data analytics.
Advisor Rajeev Bhatnagar further said that the Green Fuel and Green Transport must also be encouraged as it helps in preventing pollution and accidents to a large level. He further said that we must work together to substantially reduce fatalities in 2020.
Later the Advisor flagged off a Walkathon (Walk for Awareness) regarding road safety measures in which school children from both private and government institutions participated.
Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary, Transport Department, Asgar Hassan Samoon said that lack of awareness and over speeding are the main causes of accidents. He said that due to this road safety week public will benefit to a large as different programmes will be held over a week like health checkups for drivers, distribution of pamphlets, walkathon, blood donation camps etc to sensitise public about road safety measures.
Transport Commissioner, J&K, Owais Ahmed while speaking on the occasion said creating awareness among masses about road safety measure is essential for preventing road accidents.
Pertinently, this year’s National Road Safety Week would focus on spreading awareness about traffic rules and regulations and safe driving among the people in general and teen agers in particular.
The programme was also attended by IGP Traffic, T Namagyal; Director State Motor Garages, Z H Choudhary; Special Secretary, Transport Department, Rahul Sharma; SSP Traffic Jammu Joginder Singh; Additional Secretary Road Safety Council, R K Bhat; Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Jammu Dhanatar Singh; beside a large number of locals and school children from various government and private educational institutes.