‘Green Signal to Safe Drive', the traffic awareness campaign taken up by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Cochin Shipyard Limited in association with The Hindu and the City Police, could drive home the message effectively.
It adopted the twin method of appreciating good driving manners and then drove the message home with a road show. The awareness campaign ended on Thursday.
The first phase of the drive was launched at Vytilla Junction on October 3, with City Police Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar presenting the award to the first driver selected.
This phase ended on October 8 with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stopping over during an official trip to the city, to present an award to one of the winners. As part of the first phase, 200-odd drivers in different parts of the city were felicitated in over four days and presented with gifts for abiding by traffic rules.
The second phase had a truck, carrying a car thoroughly damaged in a road accident, being taken around the city. The City Police allowed the truck to enter the city during daytime and drive along the peak traffic flow, or park inside the city, to make the public think twice before racing on the road.
The message had its resonance among the new generation, as evidenced by the mobile phones that went on clicking images of the tableaux when it was parked in front of a shopping mall at Edappally bypass on Wednesday evening.
