Kol Police kicks off safety training for WBTC drivers
11 Feb 2018 5:43 PM GMT
Kolkata: Kolkata Police (KP) has joined hands with the state Transport department, to impart training about safe and sensible driving on the roads to curb accidents. The training kicked off on Saturday, with 50 drivers of West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) at Kolkata Police's traffic training centre at Beliaghata.
"The training of our drivers is part of the Safe Drive Save Life campaign that has been launched by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in July 2016, to inculcate a sense of safe driving and responsible road behaviour among people. We have 2,600 drivers under WBTC. All of them will go through this training process by KP," said Narayan Swaroop Nigam, managing director of WBTC.
According to a senior official of WBTC, the training will be held twice in a week on Thursdays and Saturdays. Senior officials of KP's traffic wing will be organising the classes in batches of 50. "The aim of this training is to ensure a hassle-free ride on the buses for the commuters and at the same time, ensure safety and security for them," the official added.
The drivers will be informed about the nitty gritties of traffic signaling, bus laybys, road safety tips and rules to be followed during overtaking. "There will also be visual presentations of real-time situations, so that the drivers can have a better understanding of the subject," the official said.
It may be mentioned that the state government's Safe Drive Save Life programme has resulted in a significant decline in the number of accidents in the state. The State's Road Safety Council had presented a detailed report on the state of road safety in Bengal, to the state Transport department, Kolkata and Howrah Police and PWD Department officials, a few months ago.
It has been found that the number of road accidents in the state has reduced by 19.52 percent. The number of deaths and injury cases have also reduced, by 11.5 percent and 14 percent respectively.
The police have been insisting on the use of helmets both by drivers and pillion riders as part of this campaign, which has lessened the chances of serious injuries.
CCTV cameras have been set up at important traffic junctures across the city. This has not only helped in booking people who are not following safety rules, but also helped in improving the traffic safety regime of the city significantly.
Next Story
