BRIEF REPORT
The United Nations in the General Assembly in
October 2005 declared that the 3rd Sunday of each
November would be marked as the World Day of Remembrance
for Road Crash Victims, and requested member countries
and international community to give appropriate
acknowledgement for victims of road crashes and
their families.
IRTE as a member of the United Nations Global
Road Safety Collaboration took the initiative
to observe the World Remembrance Day across the
country. IRTE wrote to Traffic Police departments
of all mega cities in India as well as non-governmental
organizations to hold such programmes in observance
of the Remembrance Day.
In New Delhi a Youth Conclave was organised by
the IRTE where 250 University students from different
colleges of Delhi participated.
Hon’ble Justice Madan B Lokur from the Delhi
High Court was the Chief Guest at the event. Mr.
Qamar Ahmed, Joint Commissioner Police (Traffic),
Dr. P P Kotwal from the Department of Orthopaedics,
AIIMS, Mr. R N Prasher, Principal Secy. Govt. of
Haryana participated as special guests of IRTE.Mr.
Rohit Baluja, President IRTE conducted the event.
Programme
Opening:-
The programme started with a powerful skit depicting
what generally happens to an Accident Victim on
the roads of India. The skit was presented by Moksh
Entertainment and very well received by the audience.
Introduction
The
skit followed an Introduction to the Remembrance
Day by Mr. Rohit Baluja, President, IRTE, who talked
about the Road traffic injuries becoming a growing
public health issue, lack of scientific accident
investigation, faulty road and traffic engineering
and uninformed hazards during road maintenance and
construction, need for political will to define
the role and responsibility of the traffic management
authorities.
Aap Beeti: Victims/ family relate their
experiences
IRTE had tied up with a leading local radio channel
to announce observance of the Remembrance Day and
invited accident survivors, family members of victims
to come forward and narrate their experiences to
the audience to sensitize them to the gravity of
the situation and misery faced by people involved
in road crashes.
There were five road crash victims present at the
function, the first one to speak was a young man,
Mr. Vivek Raha who lost one eye in an accident where
his two wheeler crashed in a pile of boulders, left
on the road by the road maintenance authorities,
without any warning signage. On being taken to the
nearby hospital, no proper medical attention was
provided to him for five hours resulting in the
loss of one eye.
The second victim was Ms. Aditi Jain, who lost her
parents, brother and grandparents when a bus belonging
to a private transport company hit the car in which
the family was traveling. She spoke about how she
has been fighting the 10 year long legal battle
in vain.
Mr. Bisht lost his son in a two wheeler accident
three years ago and was overcome with emotion while
talking about the accident; he said that he had
accepted his loss as his fate.
The next two victims Mr. Kaushik and Mrs Negi had
both lost their spouses in road accidents, Mr. Kaushik’s
two wheeler hit a bus which braked suddenly. The
brake wire of his scooter broke, which he had recently
got refitted and the mechanic had apparently used
spurious spare parts, his wife died on the spot,
Mrs Negi’s, 24 year old husband met with a
road accident and his body lay on the road for an
hour before help came in. He died due to delay in
medical attention.
Guest Speakers
Dr. P P Kotwal, Orthopedics Department, All India
Institute of Medical sciences (AIIMS), spoke about
the trend of Injuries and Prevention and highlighted
the importance of wearing seatbelts, headrests and
helmets to reduce the risk of injury in case of
accident
Mr.
Qamar Ahmed, IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic),
spoke about the challenges faced by the Traffic
Police. He said that it is the collective responsibility
of the police and public to bring about road safety,
he felt it was important to recognize the reasons
behind the occurrence of accidents, so as to prevent
any reoccurrence of accidents. He added that patience
is of utmost importance while driving and that there
was a lack of education both in the motorists and
pedestrians which needed to be bridged. He appreciated
IRTE's role and expressed that IRTE would always
have the support of the Delhi Traffic Police.
Justice Madan B Lokur, Delhi High Court, was the
chief guest at the programme. He said “From
1970 to 2003 the accidents in India
have risen by 4 times and death has risen by 6 times.
He emphasized that the Government has to play a
more active role. The expenditure on road safety
measures should be taken as investment instead of
expenditure and also road safety should be made
a political priority. He also expressed that there
was a need for educating road users and traffic
management training should be compulsorily be imparted
to the Police personnel.
30 Seconds Silence was observed as a mark
of remembering all the road crash victims
After a short break for tea, more skits were presented
by the participating colleges, Anubhuti Play Group
Of Jagannath Institute of Management Sciences &,
presented a skit depicting the apathy of the police
force, medical authorities and the misery faced
by surviving members of the family.
A skit presented by the Lalita Devi College Theatre
Group depicted the anguish suffered by the surviving
family of the untimely death of the accident victim.
A local theatre group performed a skit on lines
of a street play, which conveyed the importance
of safety devices and obeying of traffic rules.
Media Coverage
Date:18/11/2006
URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/18/stories/2006111803661300.htm
Road traffic fatalities cross a lakh annually
Special Correspondent
Third Sunday of every November to be the day for
remembering road traffic victims
CHENNAI: Even as road traffic fatalities in India
have crossed one lakh annually, the nation is set
to observe the "World Day of Remembrance for
Road Crash Victims" on November 19.
The magnitude of the problem is that an estimated
1.3 million people suffer serious injuries in road
mishaps, according to the Institute of Road Traffic
Education (IRTE), a non-government organisation.
In October last year, the United Nations declared
that the third Sunday of every November would be
marked as the day for remembering road traffic victims.
The institute, which is a member of the United Nations
Global Road Safety Collaboration, has taken the
initiative to campaign and bring awareness among
the public on the need to support road accident
victims by involving the youth as partners, its
president, Rohit Baluja, said. Besides pledging
support, all possible steps should be taken by all
stakeholders in reducing and preventing road accidents.
Mr. Baluja said a special event, to be presided
over by Madan Lokur, Judge, Delhi High Court, would
be organised at the Sri Ram Auditorium, Mandi House,
New Delhi, to mark the day. University students
had been invited to participate. Speakers from the
transport, police, judiciary, medical, media, health
and insurance sectors would address the students.
College students would perform a skit/play. The
highlight of the event would be to listen to some
of the survivors or family members of accident victims.
The organisation had written to traffic police in
all mega cities and non-governmental organisations
to hold similar programmes as part of the observance.
The IRTE's aim include involving the youth in creating
awareness and training them to become defensive
road users and ensure their safety, promoting the
message of safety among their family members, friends
and other stakeholders and spreading awareness about
the right of a road user, responsibilities towards
reducing road accidents and to care for victims,
right to report accidents and right to justice and
compensation.
The IRTE and other organisations are to jointly
organise a three-day international workshop on "Road
safety education for developing countries"
from January 11 in New Delhi.
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