For road safety, schools asked to have cameras at gates

Additional Director General of Police and Commissioner of Traffic & Road Safety P S Sandhu has advised the heads of schools and colleges in the twin cities to install CCTV cameras at the gates of their institutes, and to hand over the footages to the police, so that action can be taken against helmetless bike riding, autorickshaws ferrying more than six students, and minors driving vehicles.

"If a minor boy or girl is found riding a two-wheeler, just send the photograph to the police, and a case would be booked against his or her parent," he said.

ADGP P S Sandhu noted this while addressing principals of schools and colleges, and office-bearers of autorickshaw unions, at an awareness programme on number of school children prescribed for autorickshaws, ban on ferrying passengers in goods vehicles, and other road safety measures, here on Tuesday.

Seeking the support of educational institutes to strictly enforce road safety measures, he asked the heads of schools to collect a copy of insurance of autorickshaws ferrying students, verify them, and to inform the police if they find it suspicious. "No vehicle should move on the road without insurance, at least third party insurance," Sandhu noted.

Builders, contractors, and others should stop the practice of ferrying labourers in goods vehicles, he said.

He also directed the local police to take photographs of passengers being ferried in goods vehicles during Jatras or political rallies, and to initiate action after the events are over.

TN model to come

"The number of accidents have come down by 25% in Tamil Nadu in the last two years. Tamil Nadu's road safety model would be adapted in Karanataka too after a study, as per the Supreme Court direction. The number of accidents and deaths in the twin cities have come down in last three years, but 291 persons died in accidents in this period. Road engineering, education, and enforcement should be improved to further reduce this number," Sandhu noted.

Precautions like wearing good helmet while riding bike, wear seat belt while driving car, not using mobile phone while driving, and following traffic rules including the speed limit would save lives, he added.

'Be traffic wardens'

Police Commissioner M N Nagaraj asked the citizens to join hands with the police in the 'traffic warden' initiative to be launched soon, for better traffic management.

Gadag SP Shrinath Joshi, DCPs D L Nagesh, Shivakumar Gunare, Transport Department additional commissioner Maurti Sambrani, Joint Commissioner Purushottam, and others were present.