This New Year's Eve stay alive; don't drink and drive
Danish Manzoor:
"A number of people who die of road accidents than those who die due to terrorism,
natural calamities or health hazards," claims Suresh Raju, founder of Vaada Foundation, an NGO which believes in road safety, better roads and traffic education. When asked about his New Year's plans, Suresh said, "I am volunteering that night which is my idea of making the best of the last night of the year." He is one amongst the millions of youngsters who want to make a difference; only he is turning his words into actions. "We want people to enjoy a safe New Year's Eve by avoiding drunken driving and staying within the permissible speed limits."
These youngsters will assist the traffic cops and helping the people on the road stay safe. "Starting from 10:30 pm to 2 am in the morning we will be on the roads at Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills as these areas have the highest numbers of pubs. We will try to keep moving to un-manned junctions. We are starting small but dream big, let's see how others take us," said Karthikeya, a member of Vaada. Whereas Shashank mentioned, “As of now all we want from people is to drive safely."
Cop speak:
"We at HTP (Hyderabad Traffic Police) urge people to be responsible citizens. We want to keep away from the roads as much as possible but people do indulge in drunken and reckless driving so we don't have a choice but to keep a check. This New Year's Eve we are planning to make adequate arrangements," asserted DCP Traffic, GVG Ashok Kumar. Speaking to Cityplus the DCP asked drivers to stay under the permissible speed limit of 60 kmph. "We will have speed guns on the job. The vehicle will keep changing locations to keep a check on speedsters. We will also try to have barricades at a few roads to reduce the speed of vehicles." He said that HTP wants people to enjoy but not at the cost of lives of themselves and others.
(c) Dainik Jagran -City Plus 2011
