Mohammed Younus :
In an attempt create awareness on the number of road accidents in the city and also the road safety, a city-based social group is observing September 11 as World Day of Remembrance of Road Traffic Victims. It also celebrates this day as ‘Anti-Speed Day’ globally by organising events to create awareness among youth about careless & speed driving that results in fatal accidents. The organisation ‘Youth against Speed’ was started by the father of a road accident victim in the year 2012.
President of the group Mohammed Khaleequr Rahman said, “Earlier we started the group focusing only on speed, but as we have started campaigning for safety norms we came to know that there are several other reasons for occurrence of accidents.” In urban areas, improper engineering of roads, lack of lane driving, lack of road sense and lack of traffic sense among the people leads to accidents, which in some cases prove fatal, said Rahman.
Khaleequr Rahman’s son and his nephew, son of a noted cricketer and former Indian cricket captain Azharuddin, have died in a road crash on the expressway outside the city in 2011. This particular incident triggered Khaleequr Rahman to start a campaign against the speed riding by the youth. “We organise lectures, interactive sessions and awareness programs on 11th of every month in colleges, schools and localities,” said Rahman.
He has been using social media extensively to popularise his efforts in creating awareness among the youth. Facebook page and a YouTube channel are being dedicated for educating youth on road accidents. An oath is administered to the youth in each programme they conduct that they would not drive carelessly but responsibly.
As per the data provided by the state traffic police
department most of the accident victims during the year 2014 were between the
age group of 15 to 40 years.
Age
Group Accidental deaths
15 - 20 ------
57
20 - 25 ------
122
25 - 30 ------
155
30 - 35 ------
109
35 - 40 ------
102
So far he has conducted hundreds of placard awareness programmes in Hyderabad, Delhi, Dubai, Sharjah, Australia, Saudi Arabia and few other places. Rahman said that several international organisations including traffic management departments have consulted him and appreciated his work for spreading awareness on road safety besides inviting his group for participation. He has roped in several sports personalities like tennis player Sania Mirza and other dignitaries belonging to city to strengthen his voice in support of safety measures on roads.
No comments:
Post a Comment