MAIL TODAY | 10th MARCH, 2015
The high frequency of road accidents in India is only a testimony of ignorance and disrespect towards safety. The fact cannot be ignored that more people die in road accidents in India than anywhere else in the world. Hindustan Zinc along with ‘Rajasthan Parivahan Nirikshak Sangh’ developed a Mobile Model for road safety education in Rajasthan.
A child of 13 years was sitting with his father on a scooter, when suddenly a car over-took from a wrong direction, forcing the father to apply instant brakes. The scooter stopped. Car went ahead without bothering. The father looked back, his son was safe and he was safe too. Both were wearing helmets, it was well tied-up and both were alert.
It is said, “a life saved, saves the lives of an entire family”. So true, when we care so much for lives of our family, how can we ignore the very basis life our own-self. When we know, we are the basis of the lives of our family.
‘Safety’ is not just a six letter-word, it actually defines the well-being of the entire society and finally a country. It is important to adopt safety as a habit rather than feel it is being imposed. We generally feel victims when safety is forced upon us, ignoring the facts that it is being implemented to only make our lives safer and our families peaceful.
Most of the time, the people are aware of the consequences of ignoring safety gadgets. Most of the time, the rules & regulations are ignored, for the sake of a casual behaviour towards safety.
It is ironical to penalize a person not wearing helmet by Police, knowing the fact that wearing helmet will protect the very same person from head-injury during an un-welcomed accident, which has all the potential to become fatal.
The high frequency of road accidents in India is only a testimony of ignorance and disrespect towards safety. The fact cannot be ignored that more people die in road accidents in India than anywhere else in the world.
“Where ignorance is the reason, education can become bliss”.
The need to educate masses about the necessity of safety and making them realize the fact that it is not just a matter of their life, it the life of their family that depends on them.
Accepting the grave need towards formulation of right strategy, and realizing its importance, common masses, opinion makers, government, corporates, NGOs, and other agencies have united in Rajasthan to develop a new method towards spreading message.
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This fully equipped Road Safety Mobile Van is equipped with the facility like LCD Projector with a projection screen of 42” (LCD TV), a high-decibel sound system with amplifier to reach large audience, laptop, digital camera etc. This Road Safety Mobile Van also has a digital inverter for power backup and is proving to be useful in villages where there are power-cuts. The method of teaching involves audio-video training sessions of 90 minutes, guidelines and educating traffic rules, behavioral training on road safety, first aid etc. The program is more of interactive nature and involves the audience through question and answer sessions. Road-safety guidelines are also distributed to audience. Special drives are also being launched in association with local police towards implementation of road safety rules.
This Road Safety Mobile Van would travel deep rural villages, schools and other areas and educate people about the road safety.
This unique Road Safety Mobile Van project has been sponsored by Hindustan Zinc under the “Rajasthan Road Safety Awareness Mission Program”.
Veerendra Singh Rathore, State President, Rajasthan Parivahan Nirikshak Sangh who is also the Project Head of Rajasthan Road Safety Education and Awareness Mission informed that “Road Safety Mobile Van” provided by Hindustan Zinc is proving to very useful. We are able to reach remote villages, schools and rural people. As the Van has video screen, we are able to show short films on road safety which is helping in making the people understand the gravity of situation.”
So far the project has reached about 100,000 people through conducting about 600 educational programs, which have resulted in decreasing the road accidents and injuries. There has been an increasing participation of employees of various small-big corporates. In district Rajsamand a success story has been drawn by witnessing 40% reduction in road accidents.
Hindustan Zinc spokesperson Pavan Kaushik informed that “Hindustan Zinc is concerned about the road safety and as a large corporate we feel we should help in spreading the message and decided to support Rajasthan Road Safety Awareness Mission Program. As part of our safety drills at all our business units, we regularly organize safety workshops which also has includes road safety, where in large number of employees participate.”
Inspired by the success of the program and its response, the Transport Department, Government of Rajasthan, is now planning to launch similar Road Safety Mobile Vans in all seven division of Rajasthan.
The success of this Rajasthan Government Model on Safety is now being replicated by other State Governments. The Transport Department of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are working towards developing ten such Road Safety Mobile Vans in their States to promote road safety education and awareness in public.
The Message is clear, safety cannot be ignored.
Ultimately, “My Safety is My Responsibility”, as my safety will also make my family safe, socially and economically.
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