Poor countries hard-hit in traffic mishaps

Poor countries hard-hit in traffic mishaps
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Educate road users round the year, says Australia Chief Inspector Myers Visakhapatnam: Chief Inspector of Victoria Police, Australia, and Road...

Educate road users round the year, says Australia Chief Inspector Myers vishakaVisakhapatnam: Chief Inspector of Victoria Police, Australia, and Road Policing Specialist Den Myers of Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) has said the low and middle income nations were worst-hit in traffic incidents. Addressing the two-day workshop on training for traffic police held at Andhra University here on Monday, Mr Myers said there was a need for a proactive approach in the traffic police and road policing rather than enforcement of traffic rules to bring down the accident rate. He said most of the road deaths have been occurring in low and middle-income countries even though these countries have less than half of the world's small rich countries' vehicles. He said in the development countries the road traffic comprises movement of heavy and small vehicles in narrow roads leading to accidents and deaths. Apart from enforcement of traffic laws, traffic police have to educate the road users round the year to save the lives. Road safety is under-funded and over 1.2 million deaths are reported every year in the world due to road accidents and the number could cross 2.4 million by 2030. He said that RS-10 project on road safety was focusing on 10 countries, including India. Launched in 2011, the project was taken up in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), GRSP and Bloomberg Philanthropy. In India, it was taken up in Jalandhar and Hyderabad. The programme includes education, enforcement and emergency response of GRSP. The focus would be on 'drunk driving', wearing helmets and seatbelts. Later, talking to reporters, Mr Myers said that the workshop was aimed to improve and enhance the professional skills of the traffic police in Vizag to minimise road accidents and fatalities. Earlier, Commissioner of Police B Sivadhar Reddy said they had taken some steps for prevention of road accidents in Vizag and the 'Arrive-Alive' road safety campaign launched in January 2013 has succeeded in bringing about a change in the mindset of motorists. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) V Suresh Babu said due to continuous efforts and special drives, the city witnessed lesser accidents and deaths last year compared to previous years.
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