Establishment of "Road Safety Clubs" and "Traffic Parks"

The State Govt. is deeply concerned with the frequency of Road Traffic Accidents and fatalities and injuries arising out of these accidents which are, however, not predictable but avoidable to a large extent. In furtherance of its objective to save the precious human lives being lost due to road traffic accidents, the State Govt. is committed to take every effective and result-oriented step to reduce the number of accidents in the State.

The issue of road traffic accident is not only confined to a single department/ organization, but it is the duty of all the stakeholder’s i.e. all road users and general public including drivers, vehicles owners, passengers, pedestrians, vehicle manufacturers, dealers, mechanics and related departments directly concerned with the issue of Road Safety such as Police, Transport, PWD, Health and Education Departments.

The Lead Agency/ Road Safety Cell, Department of Transport has taken initiative to educate the school children about Road Safety at an early age to achieve its objectives to reduce the number of accidents and resultant fatalities and injuries. It has been decided by the Lead Agency/ Road Safety Cell to establish “ Road Safety Clubs” in all Senior Secondary Schools and Collages in the State with a motive to inculcate a sense of responsibility towards the safety of themselves and other road users while driving vehicle and using the road as passenger and pedestrian.

These Road Safety Clubs will include expert and experienced persons, especially having concern with the issues of Road Safety, officers/ officials of all the stakeholder departments i.e. Police, PWD, Health and Transport department, NGOs, Truck/Bus/Taxi/operator Unions, Local Bodies, Youth Clubs and Mahila Mandal etc. so that students could be made aware about the real road safety issues and required measures to be taken to contribute their best in the field of Road Safety.

These Road Safety Clubs will not only educate the students about the firsthand knowledge of traffic rules, signals, road signage, road markings and required measures to be taken to avoid undue loss of precious human lives and injuries due to the road traffic accidents but it will make them behave like responsible citizens at an early age. They will learn how to behave as a pedestrian and what precautions are to be taken as a pedestrian to avoid any untoward incident. They will be physically associated with the working of regulation of traffic with Police department for practical training in order to make them know how the things are managed and what measures and precautions are required while executing traffic regulation and what laws/ rules are required to be followed for safer driving.

In order to constitute of Road Safety Club in 135 Collages and 1878 Senior Secondary School in the State and an amount of ₹2, 21, 55,000/- has been sanctioned out of Road Safety Fund and distributed to all the Principals through the Directorate of Education.

Further, in order to make the students and general public aware about the road traffic signage, signals, road marking and there meaning and how to respond to these indications while driving vehicle and as pedestrian, “Traffic Parks” will be established in all the districts of HP at suitable places. The Project has been successfully implemented.