SIAM and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways kick-off road safety week

The 29th Road Safety week was inaugurated in Delhi yesterday by Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources; River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. He was supported by SIAM and other stakeholders working in the area of road safety.

Image for representation only. Source: Rediff

Gadkari addressed more than 1,200 school representatives and students on the need of spreading the message of road safety among Indian citizens. During the inauguration, SIAM assisted the Ministry by displaying various initiatives implemented by Gyan Mandir School on the best practices adopted by it in spreading the awareness on road safety. The week-long initiative will see the participation of school students, SIAM members, Delhi Traffic Police and NGOs.

A number of events have also been planned across the nation. SIAM and its members will also be organising various activities like awareness programs for drivers and students. They will also partner with various state transport departments, dealer outlets and educational institutes for this.

These activities will include road safety drives at automobiles dealers' network across the country. An awareness drive is being organised at Bareilly, Moradabad and Lucknow along with the UP transport department.  Some major activities taking place during Road Safety Week are:

- Road Safety Vehicle display at GMR, Delhi

- Road Safety Awareness program for Students and drivers with GMR at Delhi Airport

- Interactive session with Commercial Vehicle Drivers at Burari

- Health Check Up camp for Drivers at Ludhiana, Chandigarh Haridwar, Rudrapur, Jaipur, Bhilwara, Allahabad, Patna, Kanpur, Bhiwandi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Hosur, Haldia and Hoogly

- Road Safety awareness drive for Drivers at Ludhiana, Chandigarh Haridwar, Rudrapur, Jaipur, Bhilwara, Allahabad, Patna, Kanpur, Bhiwandi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Hosur, Haldia and         Hoogly, Vijayawada, Pithampur, Ahmedabad, Indore, Kolkata, Mohali and Delhi

- Road Safety awareness drive for Students with Eicher at Delhi

- Road Safety Awareness Drive for Drivers of BEST, Commercial taxis, bus & trucks at Maharashtra

- Road Safety awareness drive for Students with Eicher at Vijayawada, Pithampur, Ahmedabad, Indore, Kolkata, Mohali

- Road Safety Awareness Drive for Students at Hyderabad and Pondicherry

- Road Safety Workshop for Students of JIET and Road Safety Cycle Rally for Road Safety at Cuttack, Odisha

- Road Safety Workshop for School & College Students at Tripura

- Refresher Workshop for HMV Drivers at Balasore, Odisha

Such awareness programs are critical for India, given the shoddy enforcement of traffic laws, the high accident rate and general lack of awareness among road users. While such initiatives are a welcome start to improve road safety in the country, a lot more such initiatives will have to take place throughout the year at grassroots levels to find a long-term solution to the problem.