A meeting was held today under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary K.K. Pant for organising National Road Safety Month. Senior officers of various department participated in the meeting.Principal Secretary said that National Road Safety Month would be organised from 18th January till 17th February, 2021 and road safety related information would be provided to people through various awareness programmes.He said that a State Level function would be organised on 18th January at the Ridge, which would be presided over by the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. During the programme a Cycle Rally and Good Samaritan parade would also be flagged off along with various awareness activities. Various programmes related to road safety would also be organised at district level.K.K. Pant said that an awareness campaign on protection of pedestrian, vulnerable group such as old age person, children, specially abled persons, etc. would be organised on 19th and 20th January and from 21st to 23rd January campaign on adverse effects of over speeding, awareness about good samaritan and workshop on road safety would be conducted. A campaign on importance of wearing helmets would be organised on 27th and 28th January, Observance of Rose day would be held on 29th January to motivate drivers.
Awareness campaign on wearing seat belt would be organised on 30th January and 1st February. Eye checkup camp for drivers would be organised on 2nd and 3rd February, awareness campaign on adverse effects of rash driving would be organised from 4th to 6th February, from 8th February till 10th February awareness campaign regarding ill effects of drunken driving, over loading and signature campaign to motivate people to abide by traffic laws would be organised. A meeting on measures of road safety would be held with local bodies on 11th February and observance of Zero Tolerance Week from 12th to 17th February, 2021.Principal Secretary said that according to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, people who assist in the event of an accident do not face any kind of legal problem. Such person could not be forced by the police or anyone else to reveal the identity. Any passer-by, who assists the person met with an accident, known as Good Samaritan, cannot be restrained in the hospital, cannot be taken to the police station for interrogation, cannot call them to court for testimony and cannot even summoned. He said that the number of deaths in road accidents would be reduced by participation of Good Samaritans.Principal Secretary directed the officers of the department to ensure completion of preparation of National Road Safety Month in time bound manner.Director Transport Anupam Kashyap, Director Information and Public Relations Harbans Singh Brascon, Additional Director Transport Hemis Negi, ADM Shimla Prabha Rajeev, DSP Kamal Verma and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.