Minister pitches for road safety to be added in school syllabus

Hyderabad: Transport Minister V Prashanth Reddy pitched for road safety awareness in school syllabus and also wants celebrities and others to participate in road safety awareness programmes.

Inaugurating a seminar on Road Safety and Audit Improvement of Traffic Safety at The Institute of Engineers on Monday, Prashanth Reddy said that the traffic education should be made part of syllabus in schools and colleges.

"By traffic education, I mean, as a citizen and as an individual in the society what important precautions need to be taken with regard to traffic rules.

If these rules are taught at a young age, it would help the society," Prashanth Reddy said. People would also get educated with the publicity campaign through advertisements, engaging celebrities and through social media, he added.

The Minister said that the growing technology has increased speed of vehicles and it has decreased journey time and increased life risk. Worldwide around 12 lakh people are getting killed in accidents every year, the number of people in India killed in road accidents is 80,000 and about 5 lakh people sustain injuries.

A family has to suffer if the breadwinner gets killed or injured in the accidents. According to a study of Planning Board of India, because of the accidents India is suffering a loss to the tune of 3 per cent of the GDP, he said.

"The government and citizens should follow five Es, which are Education, Enforcement, Engineering, Environment and Emergency care with which the accidents can be controlled," Prashanth Reddy said.

He said that the government was taking up refresher courses for the lorry drivers, owners, auto and other vehicle drivers at the transport office once in every month.

This would be a continuous programme. The enforcement is part of the government and if the citizens don't follow rules, there is a need to create awareness by bringing hefty penalties.

There should be reengineering of roads wherever there are accidental sports. Instead of taking steps after accidents, the steps should be precautionary, he added.