We are committed to reducing accidents in Bengal: Mamata

Kolkata: On the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that her government "is committed towards reducing incidents of road accidents in Bangla."

This comes at the time when the number of road accidents have gone down with initiatives taken by the administration and police, after the Chief Minister introduced the state-wide Safe Drive Save Life campaign in 2016.

The Chief Minister tweeted on Sunday: "Today is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Our government is committed towards reducing incidents of road accidents in #Bangla."

Since the day the Chief Minister launched the statewide "Safe Drive Save Life" campaign, a series of steps starting from creating awareness to setting up necessary infrastructure, were taken to check road accidents that claim several lives every year. With the steps taken, the number of accidents has gone down, resulting in safer roads.

In the tweet, the Chief Minister further stated: "Our #SafeDriveSaveLife campaign has reduced such incidents significantly, earning praise of the Supreme Court."

It may be recalled that the drive has helped reduce the number of deaths due to road accidents by 13.34 percent in the past one year till December 2017, while the total number of road accidents have also gone down by 16.06 percent. The number of people who were injured has also decreased by 12.10 percent.

In the first quarter of 2018, the state has witnessed a drop in road accidents by 22 percent, compared to the corresponding period in 2016. It was the least number of accidents recorded in the past three years. Fatalities due to road accidents have also gone down by 18 percent in the first quarter of 2018.

The drop in the number of road accidents is the outcome of the massive awareness campaign carried out by the police. At the same time, the police have also taken strict measures to ensure use of helmet while riding two-wheelers. Refueling stations were directed not to sell petrol if a customer comes with a two-wheeler without wearing helmet.

Similarly, bike racing on flyovers that had claimed some lives in and around the city, has also stopped with restriction imposed on riding of bikes on flyovers from 10 pm to 6 am. The state Transport department and police have also jointly carried out a statewide drive to ensure that drivers do not use mobile phones while driving, as it constitutes "nuisance or danger to the public under Rule 21 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 and the provisions of clause (f) of sub-section (1) of section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 empower a licensing authority to disqualify such offenders from holding a driving licence or revoke such licence."

The state Transport department has played a key role in the Safe Drive Save Life campaign, by allotting funds to police for carrying out necessary infrastructure development, including setting up of road signs and watchtowers along highways.

It may be recalled that the car of MP Abhishek Banerjee had hit a milk van that was parked illegally along the highway near Singur in October, 2016. Now, constant vigil by the police has checked illegal parking on highways and the parking of vehicles now take place on service roads. The police are still continuing with the awareness campaign as people are still found violating traffic norms at times.