Coimbatoreans who joined hands to make certain pockets in the city litter-free zones have now come together to make this industrial hub an accident-free city.
Professionals, business honchos and various organisations here have mooted ‘Uyir’, a forum that envisions to create awareness among the public on road safety and safe driving. The campaign is slated to be launched formally by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on October 27.
Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu, Chairman, Board of Trustees of Uyir told reporters that an MoU, ‘Protect and Save Life’, would be inked and exchanged with government officials and all social awareness groups, industries and hospitals. Emphasising the need for such a campaign, S Rajasekaran, Chairman, Department of Orthopaedics and Spine Surgery, Ganga Hospital, said India has overtaken China in the number of road accidents and deaths.
“Last year alone over 1.83 lakh people lost their lives to road accidents. This number does not include deaths that had taken place days after the incident and accidents in remote rural pockets. Tamil Nadu ranks high in the list. Nearly 10,000 lives are lost in the State every year, and this is much higher when compared to deaths from malaria, dengue, cholera, typhoid, TB and bird flu. Fatality was as high as 15,642 last year,” he said, citing government statistics.
An analysis revealed that 71 per cent of the accidents were on account of traffic light jumping, mobile phone use and overspeeding, he said. “Self-initiative and responsibility of the person behind the wheel would go a long way in preventing such fatalities,” he added.