Road safety drive beefed up as accident deaths dip
Times of India | 2 July 2025
Kolkata: The city witnessed 84 fatal accident deaths in the first six months of this year compared to 92 in the same period last year. However, with the city having around 4% of road space – which ideally should be more than 20% – the cops will need year-round initiatives like Safe Drive Save Life to keep these numbers low, commissioner of police Manoj Verma said on Tuesday.
Lalbazar launched this year's first Safe Drive Save Life campaign on Tuesday, with Verma flagging off the event near Alipore Zoo. "When I was DC Traffic back in 2007-08, we had over 400 deaths. Now, after intense efforts, this has come down below 200," he said. Sources said that this week's emphasis will be on bike-related accidents and blind spot-related accidents. DC (Traffic) Shrikant Jagannathrao Yeilwad said they are holding the Safe Drive Save Life week-long campaign in July for a reason. "We have found that accidents tend to rise between June and Aug due to slippery roads. We are trying to sensitise the motorists at this crucial stage. Besides school children being taught traffic lessons and some of them managing them, the week will see drawing, essay, and slogan competitions. Special programmes – including street plays – will take place. All 26 traffic guards will also hold their own programmes," said Yeilwad.
Each traffic guard has been asked to prepare its programmes in this regard. "An essential part of the drive will be to ensure encroachment-free roads for pedestrians and encroachment-free crossings to stop jaywalking, and hence accidents," said a senior official at Lalbazar. However, each of the individual 25 traffic guards is free to highlight an issue that affects them the most and is likely to highlight those issues regularly.
Several commercial bus, auto, taxi, and truck drivers will be attending the programme too. "A study of road accidents commissioned by us revealed that dangerous behaviour by pedestrians caused 18% of the accidents, while another 9% was due to lack of attention. Thus, the onus of safety cannot lie with motorists ," said a senior officer at Lalbazar.