On the occasion of the 30th National Road Safety Week 2019, a road safety programme has been held in Dehradun on Wednesday. During the event, a ‘Junior Traffic Force’ comprising 324 students from 50 schools has been formed to help the traffic police of the city. The officials further stated that involving students from class 8th to 12th has been done with a motive to raise road safety awareness among the youngsters. The task force would help the traffic police twice a week. The chief guest on the occasion, the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also launched an audiovisual clip made about the traffic rules and road safety awareness during the event.
Sharing views on the road safety, the chief minister said, “I am sharing my own experiences and the best examples of traffic safety. While travelling in the foreign countries, I found the people following the traffic rules very seriously. In order to reduce accidents, we should follow traffic rules too. This is more so regarding the youngsters. Most of the times, the young people are injured and killed because of their carelessness while on the road. It is very hard to express in words the sorrow of the families who lose their dear ones in road accidents. Another important thing that can help avoiding accidents is awareness among the people about how to keep the road safe. We all should start the change from ourselves and then we will be able to change others.”
Speaking on the occasion, the director general of police Anil Raturi, said, “We have noticed an exaggerated sense of adventure especially among the youth. This is a very good sign but overspending on the road is not an adventure. Everyone should understand the value of the life,” Director general of police, law and order, Ashok Kumar said, “We have slapped fines on around 16,000 vehicles out of 24,000 registered vehicles last year in the city. This figure is not a success. It would be an achievement for us when the number of fines being slapped would be low. It is very important to make the people around us aware of the importance of road safety.”
The members of the junior district task force sounded happy over being given the opportunity and said that they would help the traffic police by making the people more aware of the traffic rules. “We will try our best to make the people realise that rash driving causes an accident. Besides, running from police when they are stopped for breaking any rule invites mishaps,” a member added.