Sir,

In an attempt to reduce deaths and injuries in road accidents, most of which are preventable, National Road Safety Weeks are being celebrated in our country (ranked No. 1 in the number of road accident deaths and injuries) every year to increase awareness among citizens.

However, many people are not taking the message out of these programmes and they are ignoring safety aspects on the road and continuing their habit of violating the safety rules.

Recently, I noticed a helmet-less two-wheeler rider on New Kantharaja Urs Road in Kuvempunagar carrying his pet dog on the back seat without even tying it to the vehicle and the dog is moving from one side to another (see photo). Is it really required to take it like that? Instead, he should have kept it at his legs or asked his family member to accompany to hold the pet. These are avoidable and preventable steps in terms of road safety.

Are our citizens realising the risk only when something happens to them? Proactive steps are needed from public to reduce the number of road accidents.

– Dr. S. V. N. Vijayendra, Traffic Warden & Member, Traffic Advisory Committee, Roopanagar, 30.4.2018

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