National road safety month celebrations held

Guntur: Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications, Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar said that every year nearly 1.6 lakh people lose their lives in road accidents, which is much higher than deaths caused by wars or diseases. He said that it is a matter of serious concern that more than half of the accident victims are youth.

He addressed the national road safety month celebrations held under the aegis of Guntur District Transport Department, the programme titled “Safety through Training, Transformation through Technology” was conducted at the Collectorate here on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the human brain fully matures between the ages of 20 and 25, and until then individuals often give importance to others’ opinions rather than the concerns of parents and family members. He said that accidents occur mainly due to not wearing helmets, not using seat belts and rash driving and added that wearing a helmet can reduce the risk of death by nearly 50 per cent.

He distributed prizes to the students who secured first, second and third positions at the district level in essay writing competitions, as well as winners of other competitions. He along with MLAs Galla Madhavi and B. Ramanjaneyulu distributed the prizes.

Joint collector Ashutosh Srivastava, district revenue officer Khajavali, deputy transport commissioner K Seetharamireddy, and additional SP Ramanamurthy were present.