Road safety volunteers owing allegiance to Road Accident Action Forum (RAAF) on Sunday passed a resolution seeking the inclusion of road safety laws in school curriculum.
The demand was raised at a meeting of the forum. It was set up nearly 20 years ago to sensitise the public and government functionaries to ways to mitigate road accidents and reach out to families of accident victims with all possible support.
The resolution sought the introduction of four separate modules for pre-primary, primary, high school and higher secondary school students. It stressed the need to assign a panel of experts to make lessons interesting and comprehensive with pictorial representations.
“We have already submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister and other ministers who handle portfolios such as education, transport, and public works,” said K.M. Abdu, president, RAAF. He pointed out that the reconstitution of the Kerala Road Safety Authority with more domain experts and representatives from road safety organisations could be a productive step.
The district-level meet, which was opened by Sub Judge M.P. Shaijal at Gandhi Griham in the city, drew the participation of new volunteers who expressed willingness to contribute to road safety improvement programmes.
Mr. Shaijal, who is also the secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, said the reluctance of motorists to follow traffic rules and violation of speed limits were the prime reasons for the rising number of road accidents in the State. He added that the safety challenges in the sector could be met only through healthy driving habit, stringent enforcement, awareness drives, and road safety auditing initiatives.
RAAF also decided to hold a State-level drivers’ meet in February next year to honour the best drivers. Association leaders said the meet would be held in Kozhikode, and that senior government functionaries and ministers would participate.
