Schoolteachers are, without doubt, in the best position for creating a future society that follows road ethics, and in which each individual ensures their own safety as well as of others while on the road.
This is the motivation behind the two-day Road Safety Training Camp for schoolteachers organised by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), which began here on Wednesday.
The training camp, attended by 100 teachers from 100 schools in the city, aims to ensure that every school has at least one teacher who is equipped to guide the students as well as other teachers in following road safety measures, intended for pedestrians, passengers and drivers.
The teachers are also directed to form Road Safety Cells at the school level for conducting orientations on this topic.
Transport Commissioner S. Ananthakrishnan inaugurated the camp. He said that just in 2015, around 4,200 people died and close to 22,000 people were seriously injured in road accidents in the State. Though these happenings may escape the notice of the average person, they have alarming implications which make road safety awareness campaigns like this one the need of the hour, he said.
The camp is being organised by NATPAC for the third consecutive year. In the past two years, close to 2,300 teachers received training through the camps and Road Safety Cells were set up in around 1,600 schools.
Stress reduction measures
Apart from awareness campaigns, other measures have been taken to reduce accident rates, especially in schools and surrounding areas.
Most recently, on Tuesday, the Transport Commissioner issued an order to prevent school vehicles from leaving the school premises until the children who return home by foot make their exit, in the light of the school bus accident that killed one and injured 40 in Malappuram on September 30.
