Students, guests, officials of various departments and bus and autorickshaw drivers listened in rapt attention as seven-year-old Rohit drove home the message of road safety through a thought-provoking song at the inaugural of ‘Arrive – Alive’, a road safety awareness campaign launched by the City Police, here, on Wednesday.
The thought-provoking song in Telugu covered various aspects of safety like use of zebra crossings by pedestrians, avoiding use of cell phone while driving, the need to adhere to traffic rules and the void created in the lives of parents when they lose their children in accidents. Despite his tender age, the boy was clear in his diction and didn’t falter even once while singing the lengthy song, which lasted for around 5 minutes.
District Collector Solomon Arokiaraj, who participated as chief guest, called for strict adherence of traffic rules by motorists and other road users.
He attributed the rise in number of accidents despite awareness campaigns by the police, to the non-adherence to rules by road users. He said: “Everyone should feel that when we are safe, others are safe and vice versa”. Citing an example, he said youngsters indulging in dangerous driving endanger the lives of other motorists.
Their zooming ahead at high speeds, criss-crossing between other vehicles, could throw senior citizens and women motorists off balance and result in accidents.
While complimenting Police Commissioner B. Shivadhar Reddy for launching the ‘Arrive – Alive’, Mr. Arokiaraj felt that though immediate lowering of accident rate may not be always possible, these campaigns would go a long way in reducing accidents in the long run besides inculcating traffic discipline among motorists in the long run.
Speaking at the meeting, the Police Commissioner recalled that the ‘Arrive – Alive’ campaign was launched in January last year. He felt that it should not become a mere ritual and motorists should make ‘safety’ their top priority.
He expressed concern at the increase in road accidents last year despite the awareness campaign. On the positive side, impressed by the campaigns, the World Health Organisation had given equipment like CC cameras and breath analysers to the police.
Joint Collector Praveen Kumar, VUDA Vice Chairman N. Yuvaraj, Deputy Inspector General (Visakha Range) P. Umapathi, Superintendent of Police Vikramjeet Duggal, Deputy Commissioner of Police Shemushi underlined the need for awareness among road users to minimise accidents. ADCP (Traffic) V. Suresh Babu presided.
Skits presentedSkits on road safety were presented by various groups. The District Collector gave away mementoes to the participants.
