Transport department to have a two-week road safety drive

The annual Road Safety Week in January is all set to become Road Safety Weeks, as the transport department is determined to create more awareness among citizens.

The annual Road Safety Week in January is all set to become Road Safety Weeks, as the transport department is determined to create more awareness among citizens.

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The plan was discussed at a recent meeting with home minister RR Patil. The transport department will either add a week in the last week of December or in January. “We will make the drive a 14-day event where we will try to create even more awareness among citizens on preventing accidents,” transport commissioner Dilip Jadhav said.

Every year, the first week of January is observed as Road Safety Week. This year, the transport department wants to tap school and college students to help spread awareness about rash driving, breaching of traffic rules and breaking traffic signals. They will also place advertisements at hospitals and public places. The transport department, however, doesn’t plan to prolong the drive any more than two weeks and will then start taking stringent action against traffic offenders.

“It is the traffic department’s job to take these offenders to task,” said another official from the transport department. On Sunday, a man was killed and 18 people were injured when an ST bus hit a road divider and turned turtle at Belapur. Last week, a three-year-old girl came under the rear wheel of a BEST bus in Bandra (E). People in the area beat the bus driver to death.