Traffic wing starts ‘Arrive Alive’ to curtail accidents

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Visakhapatnam: The city traffic police launched the road safety week campaign with the slogan, ‘Arrive Alive’ at the Police Grounds here on Friday. Worried over the increasing accidents in the city, which stood third in accident deaths after Cyberabad and Hyderabad, the police has decided to educate motorists about traffic rules till December 2013.
Police commissioner B. Shivadhar Reddy said that the police were worried that over 380 people were losing their lives in accidents in GVMC limits compared to just 40 murders a year. “When it comes to murders, there is a motive or other reasons, but in case of road accidents, the victims are innocent. More than 40 per cent of victims are below 25 years,” Mr Reddy said.
He said the majority of accidents occurred due to lack of traffic sense and drunken driving. He said road safety week will be observed with an aim to bring down accidents and deaths by 30 per cent in 2013 and to promote the habit of defensive driving.
“Though the city traffic police had succeeded in reducing accident deaths in the last three years, the police has to change mindset while enforcing laws. Only then motorists will follow traffic rules,” said ADGP A.R. Anuradha.
Participating as the chief guest at the ‘Arrive Alive’, a campaign for safer roads, chairman of Visak-hapatnam Port Trust Aje-ya Kallam said that a maj-ority of accidents occur due to negligence and violation of traffic norms. Traffic police officials said that they would work in coordination with people, social organisations, intellectuals, students and ins-titutions to make roads sa-fer for road users. A good number of schoolchildren and autorickshaw drivers took part in the campaign.