Start road safety drive in Uttar Pradesh from January 5: CM Yogi directs officials

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directed officials to launch a month-long statewide road safety campaign from January 5 to February 4, asking them to work in a mission mode to curb cases of traffic crashes and resultant deaths

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directed officials to launch a month-long statewide road safety campaign from January 5 to February 4, asking them to work in a mission mode to curb cases of traffic crashes and resultant deaths.

The CM observed in the past one year, more than 21,200 people had died in road accidents in the state. (FOR REPRESENTATION PURPOSE)

“We have to work in a mission mode to increase public awareness of road safety. Within the next 48 hours, big pictures related to road accidents with awareness slogans should be put up at all the police stations, tehsils, major markets and intersections of the state. This should be done immediately in coordination with the transport and information departments,” he said while chairing a high-level meeting on road safety here.

The CM observed in the past one year, more than 21,200 people had died in road accidents in the state, while 23,600 people died of Covid in the state during the last three years. The situation, he said, was a cause for worry. “To minimise road accidents, we need to work unitedly focusing on “5Es-Education, Enforcement, Engineering, Emergency Care and Environment,” he said.

“Apart from poor road engineering, overspeeding, overloading, non-use of safety devices and drunken driving are the major factors of road accidents. Most road accidents happen in big cities like Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Mathura. Efforts should be made to reduce road accidents by concentrating on cities that are connected with expressways or national highways,” the CM said.

He also directed officials to form a task force to deal with the issue of overloading of goods and passenger vehicles. He asked officials to ensure that ongoing works for short-term and long-term rectification of black spots marked on the routes of PWD and NHAI were completed at the earliest with quality.

Yogi said in the past one year, 38 percent of road accidents happened due to overspeeding. Similarly, 12 percent accidents occurred due to driving in the wrong direction and nearly 9 percent due to talking on mobile.

Noting that road was for movement and not for parking, he said parking system in the cities would have to be further strengthened. He said was the responsibility of the local administration to find a permanent solution to the problem of illegal taxi stands. “Make sure that no one sets up shop outside the designated area,” he warned officials.

Challan or other enforcement action, he pointed out, was not a permanent solution to make people follow traffic rules. “Instead, we have to emphasise awareness. Special efforts need to be made to make children follow traffic rules in schools and colleges. The culture of following traffic rules should be given to children from the very beginning. It should be included in the curriculum. In collaboration with the transport department, children should be motivated to follow traffic rules through pictures,” the CM said.