Keep yourselves as well as others safe on roads, urges CP
Times of India | 16 February 2025
123 Kolkata: Commissioner of Kolkata Police Manoj Verma on Saturday stated that any road user—a pedestrian, a bicyclist or a bus passenger—has as much claim on the road as anyone travelling by a four-wheeler.
But rights always come with duties, Verma reminded, saying it was all road users' duty to ensure they themselves as well as others remained safe.
This was especially true for Kolkata, which has just 3% to 4% of roads against an ideal 30% , or even Delhi, which has over 10% of its space reserved as roads. "You need to be physically fit and mentally alert on the road," said Verma. The CP was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Kolkata Traffic Police Safety Week.
"We held awareness programmes for the past seven daysbut traffic safety involves 365 days of work. In 2007-08, when I was DC (traffic), there were more than 400 road accident deaths. Since then, KP's area has tripled and the population doubled, but the road surface stayed only 3% to 4%.To manage traffic with such a small road surface is difficult," said Verma.
The CP said most accidents happened when commuters got distracted, forgetting their duties on the road. "Mobile is one of the biggest distractions. Even this month, a pedestrian was on his mobile and did not realise he was on the road till an accident took place," said Verma. The top cop insisted wearing any helmet was not good enough, it had to be of good quality.