Statewide road safety campaign to run from Jan 5 to Feb 4 in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 3 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directed officials to make efforts on mission mode to ensure road safety.
In a high-level meeting held on Tuesday, a state-wide road safety campaign will be launched from January 5 to February 4.
"Uttar Pradesh is witnessing severe cold and dense fog for the past few days. An increase in road accidents is being seen during this period. The untimely death of someone in a road accident is very sad. To minimize this, we need to work unitedly focusing on '5E ie Education, Enforcement, Engineering, Emergency Care and Environment'," the Chief Minister said.
Yogi said that within the last one year, more than 21,200 people have died in road accidents in the state, while 23,600 people have died in the state during the last three and a quarter years of a global pandemic of the novel coronavirus. "This situation is worrying," he added.
The UP CM said that road safety is not the responsibility of only one department adding that this will be possible only through collective efforts.
"Therefore, it is necessary to run a massive campaign with inter-departmental coordination to prevent road accidents. State-wide road safety campaign should be launched from 05 January to 04 February. To make it successful, cooperation of public representatives should also be taken," he added.
He said that apart from poor road engineering, overspending, 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 task force should be constituted to stop overloading," said Yogi.
He said that bad road engineering causes major accidents adding that the ongoing works for short-term and long-term rectification of black spots marked on the routes of PWD and NHAI should be completed at the earliest with quality.
"Home guards have also been deployed by the state government to make the traffic system smooth. Home guards should be deployed along with the traffic police as per the local requirements. Establishment of police lines for the personnel of the traffic department in the districts should also be considered," he said.
Yogi said that all the proposed and operated ITMS in the state should be integrated with UP 112. With this, timely help will be provided with better coordination at the time of the accident and other needs, he said.
"It should be ensured that there is uniformity in the registration number of the vehicle and the vehicle number recorded in the FASTag affixed on it. In some places, information about disturbances is also being received. Strict action should be taken against such activities," said the Chief Minister.
"Accidents are reported every day due to overspeeding on highways and expressways. In the last one year, 38 per cent of road accidents happened due to over speed. Similarly, 12 per cent of accidents occurred due to driving in the wrong direction and nearly 9 per cent due to talking on mobile," he said.
The Chief Minister said that the work on the black spot, speed measurement, quick medical facility, CCTV etc. systems need to be further improved.
"The concerned authorities will have to work in this direction after considering it seriously. It should be ensured that there are no queues of trucks on the highways," he said.
He also directed to do the eye test of state road transport bus drivers should be done at regular intervals.
"For this, prepare a better action plan in coordination with the Transport and Medical Department. Transport Corporation buses, which do not meet the standards of fitness, should not be used at all," he directed.
He said that the records of the past one year show that about 40 per cent of the accidents occurred on National Highways, while 30 per cent took place on State Highways.
The Chief Minister said in this situation, patrolling should be increased on expressways, state highways and national highways.
"In case of an accident, the accident vehicle should be immediately removed from the road. For this, there is a need to increase the number of cranes," he said.
He asked the officers to coordinate with Home, Transport, PWD, Expressway Authority, Medical and Health and Medical Education Department to further improve trauma services.
"Ambulance response time needs to be further reduced. Understand the importance of the golden hour. The sooner the injured reaches the hospital, the lesser will be the damage. Along with other services, orthopaedics and neurosurgeons must be posted in the trauma center. In areas where trauma services are lacking, necessary arrangements should be made immediately by the Health Department," he said.
He also asked to find a permanent solution to the problem of illegal taxi stands and makes sure that no one sets up shop outside the designated area.
"Road is for movement, not for parking. The parking system in the cities will have to be further strengthened. It is 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 said.
The CM directed that the speed breakers should not be back-breaking, they should instead be table-top.
"Keep in mind the convenience of people while constructing speed breakers. Speed breakers should not be back-breaking, they should instead be table-top. Elderly, children, women and patients should not have to face unnecessary trouble. Due to poor designing, people often try to drive off the edge of the speed breaker, which also leads to accidents," he said.
The Chief Minister said that 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.
"We have to work on 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 Department and the Information Department," Yogi said.
Yogi said that the culture of following traffic rules should be given to children from the very beginning.
"Challan or other enforcement action is not a permanent solution to make people follow traffic rules. We have to emphasize on 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," he said.
The Chief Minister said that the children should be made aware of road safety during morning prayer in schools of basic education.
He said that essay writing or speech competitions should be organized in secondary schools.
"This will increase the awareness of traffic rules among children and teenagers. DIOS and BSA should visit schools and participate in awareness programmes. Drunken driving invites accidents. For this, the Excise Department will also have to spread awareness," he added.