Candles lit, 250 people walk together for safer roads

Chandigarh: Nearly 250 people came together at Children’s Traffic Park in Sector 23 on Sunday to seek safer roads in the city and the country. To mark World Day of Remembrance, Chandigarh traffic police organized ‘Walk for Safer Roads’ in collaboration with not-for-profit organization Citizens Awareness Group and Consumer VOICE, Delhi.
Sharing the factsheet on road accident fatalities in Chandigarh and Haryana, Citizens Awareness Group chairperson Surinder Verma said there were 428 road crashes in Chandigarh in 2016.“In these accidents, 329 people were injured and 151 killed, as per a report by the Union ministry of road transport and highways. In Haryana, 11,234 road crashes took place, 10,531 were injured and another 5,024 killed in the same year,” he said. “These casualties included children and youth. This is massacre on roads.”
Verma suggested that the passage of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2017 in Parliament could reduce road accident fatalities by 50% by 2020. “Of course, the state government will have to implement it properly. The Bill has already been cleared by the Lok Sabha; it is under consideration with the select committee of Rajya Sabha,” he said.
The walk was followed by a candlelight march. Civil society activists, personnel of Chandigarh Police, students of MCM-DAV College, and Government Home Science College participated in the walk. DSP (traffic) Rajeev Ambasta delivered a talk and gave detailed information on traffic rules at the gathering. Motivational speaker and traffic marshal Mohinder Kour Kataria also spoke on the significance of the day.