Colleges to initiate ‘isafe-safer India Challenge’ for road safety

JAIPUR: Aiming to engage youth in solving local infrastructure issues, an ‘isafe-safer India Challenge’ will be organised in various private and government colleges across the state under the Indian Road Safety Campaign.

The Indian Road Safety Campaign is an IIT Delhi initiative, which is supported by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway and the United Nations I nstitute f or Training and Research.

As a part of the challenge, several activities such as movie making and street-plays will be conducted to spread awareness on road safety in over 1,500 colleges and points will be awarded to individual teams of the colleges. Students will also be encouraged to find solutions to local infrastructure issues as a part of the initiative.

A letter by the Indian road Safety Campaign to the secretary of higher and technical education dated September 9 states that the state ranks high in the country in terms of deaths caused due to road accidents. In 2017, the number of road accidents occurred in the state were 22112 in which 22071 people were injured. The total number of deaths due to road accidents in 2016 was 10465.

“The magnitude and gravity o f t he i s s ue i s s uch t hat i t requires a multi-stakeholder approach. Youngsters are among the most vulnerable section when it comes to road accidents, the involvement of youth in its eradication becomes mandatory,” said the letter.

The letter attributes driving two-wheelers without helmets, driving four-wheelers without seat belts, rash driving and drink driving as some of the primary causes of road accident deaths in Rajasthan. The nine month long challenge is designed to create awareness about law enforcement pertaining to road safety apart from giving an opportunity to college students to design technically sound and user friendly products.

In a circular issued by the college education department on October 18, it has directed colleges to conduct the programme in its campuses.

AS A PART OF THE CHALLENGE, SEVERAL ACTIVITIES SUCH AS MOVIE MAKING AND STREET-PLAYS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO SPREAD AWARENESS ON ROAD SAFETY IN OVER 1,500 COLLEGES