Transport department organises road safety week as accidents rise in GB Nagar

The data released by the Noida transport department shows that from January 1 to August 31, 2021, 238 people died and 348 people were injured in 501 accidents in Gautam Budh Nagar

The Gautam Budh Nagar transport department is organising a road safety week from September 24-30 with an aim to increase awareness and enforcement as recent data shows there is a rise in the number of accidents and accident-related deaths in the district.

A police officer sensitising autorickshaw drivers about the need to follow traffic rules in Noida on Friday (Sourced)

The data released by the Noida transport department shows that from January 1 to August 31, 2021, 238 people died and 348 people were injured in 501 accidents in Gautam Budh Nagar. In 2020, during the same period, 221 people died while 345 people were injured in 446 accidents in the district.

Prashant Tiwari, assistant regional transport officer (ARTO enforcement), Gautam Budh Nagar, said that this is because this year people have resumed their movement as the restriction of lockdown was lifted. “We are organising the road safety week to make people aware. We have scheduled various awareness programmes in schools, colleges, and also for the drivers of autos, taxis and buses in the coming days. This will help in curbing road accidents,” he said.

On Friday, an awareness rally was flagged off from ARTO office in Sector 32 to DCP traffic office in Sector 14-A. Four safety weeks are observed annually. This is the second road safety week observed in 2021; the first was organised from July 22-28.

“We are coordinating with the department of education, health, UPSRTC, and traffic police to make this a success. We have also engaged the pollution department to check vehicles with modified silencers. On Saturday, we seized six motorcycles with modified silencers which were louder than the permitted limit of 80 decibels,” Tiwari said.

Ashutosh Singh, Noida traffic inspector, said that since shops and markets reopened and the people’s movement increased after pandemic-related restrictions were lifted. “This has led to a slight increase in accidents and accident-related injuries. We frequently organise awareness programme for the drivers of autos, taxis, and buses. We also contact private companies and sensitise their transport department staff to adhere to road safety rules. The enforcement is a continuous exercise,” he said.

Anurag Kulshrestha, president of TRAX, a road safety NGO, said that the awareness programme should be result-oriented. “The traffic and transport department organised similar programmes in the past, but they did not yield desired results. We found that a number of deaths by accidents happen mainly because two-wheeler riders either do not wear helmets or use sub-standard ones. Use of quality helmets should be enforced to reduce accidents and deaths,” he said.