Mangaluru: The concluding ceremony of 27th Road Safety Week was held at the Police Samudhaya Bhavana, SP office premises here, on January 19.
DCP of Crime, Dr Sanjeev Patil welcomed the gathering and ACP of Traffic, Uday Nayak read the report on various programmes conducted during the week.
In-charge Deputy Commissioner of Transport and Senior RTO, GS Hegde said, “Shrill horns are removed from all the busses in the city and steps have been taken so that such horns are not installed again.” He said that as per the directives of the Supreme Court, usage of cellphone while driving will lead to suspension of the driving license for a period of 3 months. As a part of awareness, interaction sessions with the public were conducted by live TV programmes. “The RTO had also collected a total fine of Rs 8 lakhs in the last year,” he added.
Based on the public opinion six Traffic Police Constables were felicitated for their service. PC Neelappa and PC Spoorthi Hegde from Traffic West division, PC Babu Shetty and PC Yeshwanth from Traffic East division and PC Uday Kumar and PC Dinesh P Sanil from Traffic North division were the six constables who were felicitated with a shawl, a certificate and a memento.
Police Commissioner, Chandra Sekhar said, “The main aim of this week was to concentrate our energy to address the traffic issues, spreading traffic awareness and to ensure proper traffic management. It was heartening to see our constables being recognized and being felicitated. May be in the coming days, citizens will also be recognized for the help they provide us.” He said that it was important for children to be educated on the traffic issues as quality change was possible only when we could convey our minds to the children who would be driving in the future.
Chief Traffic Warden, Joe Gonzalves said, “We are here on an important mission to reduce accidents. ‘Drive Safe Save Lives’ should be our motto.” He said that he had seen traffic for 90 years when traffic was scarce, whereas now the traffic has increased tremendously and so has the number of accidents. 50 year old roads couldn’t hold the growing traffic and should be upgraded. A system should be introduced to visit schools and spread awareness.
He further said that the traffic personnel were not adequate to tackle growing traffic and there was a need for more traffic wardens to be appointed. “The message to offending riders should be loud and clear. I wish the message is conveyed,” Joe added.
Prizes were distributed to the winners of various competitions held as part of the 27th Road Safety Week.
Mayor Jacintha Vijay Alfred, President of DK Bus Drivers Association, Nelson Pereira and SP Dr Sharanappa were also present.
