Road Traffic scenario at present is marked by lack of traffic sense, indiscipline, discourtesy to other road users and in fact callous user behaviour. Overspeeding, overloading, dangerous overtaking, drunken driving, parking on carriageway boarding or alighting a running bus, hanging out of bus, jumping red lights lane changing without adequate warning, scant respect for traffic rules, etc. are some of the glaring examples of traffic indiscipline and lack of safety values.
Statistics of accidents in the country show that in show that in majority of the cases, human failure (driver and other road users) has been the main contributory factor. This failure may be due to negligence, carelessness or attitude to road safety. For alleviating this situation, appropriate measures for education and propaganda and other measures to inculcate better road sense and traffic discipline in the minds of road users have a vital role.
In this context different authorities at various levels such as Local. State and National have also been stressing the role of traffic education in the shape of organising Seminars, Safety Weeks, Exhibitions and Workshops. Among the many recommendations made at such forums, extensive traffic education programme figures prominently.
Most of the road users do not appear to have clear idea of their relative obligations both towards themselves and towards others. All road users including pedestrians, cyclists, scooterists, drivers of bullock-carts and other animal drawn vehicles besides the drivers of the motor vehicles need to be educated about their rights and duties in this regard.
Education on road safety must start with children and imbibe in them the safety culture for a lasting impact. This should form a part of their academic curriculae. Indian Roads Congress had brought out a publication entitled "Road Safety for Children (5-12 years)". This could prove very useful for the purpose of disseminating road safety education to school children.
Adequate attention towards education of drivers and other road users in different age groups sbould be given. Past studies have shown that the younger and the older drivers cause more accidents. Accident risk of drivers in the age group of 17-19 years is nearly 9 times that of middle aged drivers in the age group of 40-50 years. Among the drivers of motorised vehicles, two wheeler drivers constitute the most vulnerable section. Therefore, there is a need to develop specific road safety education programme for each category and age group of drivers.
Different types of mass media like newspapers, road safety literature and leaflets, hoardings, cinema films and slides, radio/TV coverage, lectures, advertisements, etc. should be utilised for disseminating road safety concepts.
Some of the thrust areas under road safety programmes, could be training of drivers, driving schools, safety education to children, pedestrian training. traffic training classes, road safety education cells, higbway safety code and driving manuaL training of traffic safety personnel, seminars and safety campaigns.
There are at present glaring deficiencies in the field of traffic safety education. A proper road culture has yet to come up. Apart from proper organisation of adequate training facilities, voluntary activities in this direction need to be fruit- fully channelised There is a need to inculcate safety consciousness in every- body so that it is cherished as a social value. Through education, we can bring out significant changes in attitude and awareness to road safety |
