Ahead of peak tourist rush, the Himachal Pradesh Police on Friday came out with a traffic safety pamphlet carrying slogan Surkshit Padharein, Surkshit lautein,” (come safe and go safe).
Officials said this has been done to spread awareness about the traffic rules and regulations particularly targeting the visitors from other parts of the country visiting Himachal Pradesh during the festive season of Navratris and Dussehra.
Releasing the Traffic Safety Pamphlet here, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the awareness drive would help in reducing accidents. “It should be ensured that these pamphlets are distributed to the visitors at all entry points of the districts and State so that the motorists can be made aware of the precaution to be taken while driving in the hills,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the police can contribute a lot in reducing the road mishaps and can put an end to the drunken driving. Maximum accidents were due to rash, drunken and negligent driving besides use of mobile phones while driving was also a cause of mishaps. He said that such traffic rules violators should be brought to book so that an example could be set for others.
“The State Government is serious to force the traffic rules stringently so that the road accidents may be reduced” he said, during interaction with the senior police officers present on the occasion. He appreciated the efforts of the Police department for carrying out the State wide survey in all 13 police districts covering all roads including National Highways.
All black spots should be identified, he said, seeking improvement and widening of roads wherever possible with appropriate signages and enforcement of speed limits. “A small measure can save many precious lives and the police and other line departments must ensure that overcrowding and over-speeding are regularly monitored” he said.
Director General of Police, Sanjay Kumar gave details of various measures being adopted by the department to curtail road accidents. “To scientifically collect and compile data about road accidents an elaborate ‘Road Accident Data Management System’ was likely to be introduced soon with the assistance of the World Bank, together with PWD, Transport and Health departments,” the DGP said.
He said sophisticated tablets would be provided to the police stations and all police posts to handle the mishaps cases effectively and immediately. Sanjay Kumar said an Accident Data Management Cell would also be made operational from next week at Police Headquarters, Shimla which would also be linked with all police posts and police stations so that corrective measure could be taken for prevention of accidents.
The senior police officials were present on the occasion amongst senior officers of the State Government.