The Society of Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) kickstarted the Road Safety Week campaign at India Gate on February 4. This year’s event on the theme “Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha” was organized in association with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the Delhi Traffic Police.
The day started off with the Delhi Traffic Police Walkathon with 1,000 of students at India Gate and a street theatre on road safety. This was followed by the inauguration of the National Road Safety Week commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
SIAM also launched the Indian automobile industry’s initiative of declaring 2019-2020 as the National Road Safety Year in the presence of Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, and Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs. The Ministers flagged off a motor rally to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Supported by Kanishka Sports and Mahindra and Mahindra, the rally starting from Rajghat, is scheduled to conclude in 22 days covering 7,250 km.
On this occasion, Mr. Sugato Sen, SIAM Deputy Director General, said: “There have been several measures taken to bring down the rate of road fatalities in India, but yet there has been not much of improvement. In order to change the bleak picture of road safety in our country, we aim to identify the steps and areas which are really helping in bringing down the number of road fatalities. SIAM, along with its members, would be observing 2019-2020 as National Road Safety Year and will try to bring some best practices which can bring down the fatalities rate on our roads.”
After taking the road safety pledge, Mr. Nitin Gadkari said: “We are connecting the nation through tunnels, bridges, roads and highways, but our main target is to bring down the death count happening because of road accidents. Approx 1.5 lakh people die in nearly 5 lakh road accidents every year in India. Around 48% of these fatalities happen to be in the age bracket between 18 and 35 years. We aim to drastically cut down the figures and change this scenario. We are taking various initiatives including awareness campaigns like this, identifying black spots of accidents and seeking people’s co-operation. I would appeal to everyone to participate in this road safety initiative.”
Said Mrs. Sushma Swaraj: “It’s important to follow Gandhiji’s principles of peace, patience and tolerance in the case of road safety as well. Else whatever steps are taken or rules created, the situation of road rage, careless driving and accident scenarios won’t change.”