Breaking away from the traditional forms of road safety campaigns, the Madanapalle police unveiled a series of pictures, graphics and video clips in order to reach out to young students in the age group of 13-20.
The campaign, titled ‘ABCDs of Road Safety’, intends to cover 25,000 students from Class VIII to the final year of graduation, within a span of three months. In the last one week, the first leg of the campaign has involved 2,500 schoolchildren. A colourful booklet was given to each child with information on road engineering and enforcement of traffic rules in a lucid style with a lot of pictures.
Effective tactics
Circle Inspector (Madanapalle) M. Srinivasulu, who designed the campaign, said that awareness on road safety would have lasting results if schoolchildren are involved. Apart from distributing the booklets, the traffic personnel would conduct special sessions by showing them video clips and photographs pertaining to road safety aspects.
“In a series of sessions, we will make schoolchildren know about the perils of drunken driving and overspeeding, and will educate them on the rules for pedestrians, traffic signals at busy junctions, road dividers and other key information,” Mr. Srinivasulu said.
Learning the rules
The official said that a majority of road users did not know the rule that the pedestrians should follow “keep right” rule in the absence of a footpath or pavement. “We will also focus on important things as to how schoolchildren should cross the road. Most accidents involving pedestrians, particularly children, take place as they do not watch the road, on both their right and left sides, before crossing,” Mr. Srinivasulu said.
The police would also explain to the children the risks of boarding overloaded school auto-rickshaws, footboard travel, keeping arms outside windows, and boarding and alighting from moving vehicles.
Highlights
A highlight of the campaign is showing the video clips of popular personalities on the evils resulting from road safety violations. “For instance, the video clips of some film actors, who had lost their children in road accidents, had been played. As they poured out their pain, it had a powerful impact on the minds of the children,” the police official said.
During the special sessions, the children would be showed the photographs of accident scenes after censoring the gory parts.
The impact of the campaign has already started showing positive results, say officials. “Many parents have said goodbye to their drink and drive habits, fearing questioning by their children. The number of parents wearing helmets is also increasing much to our relief,” Mr. Srinivasulu said.
