Over 20,000 People Died In Accidents During Lockdown, Youths Pledge ‘Sahi Mood Se Safe Drive’ on Gandhi Jayanti
Pune, October 2, 2020: When we drive in the right mood, we drive safe. Mostly driving in a hurry or in anger leads to fatalities. On the occasion of 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, city youths came together to celebrate Pedestrian Day in Pune.
Taking inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March, youths wanted to encourage Citizens of Pune to join a movement of Road safety and awareness. Since 2014, every 2nd Oct we encourage citizens to follow traffic rules for safety & pledge to push authorities to ensure better road infrastructure, said said Devendra Jani, Member of Community Development Index (CDI).
This year Pedestrian day is celebrated by taking an online pledge, to focus on happy road experiences (be it driving or walking on city road). More than 20,732 lives were lost in road crashes even during the lockdown in India.
The online pledge collects two important inputs –
1. How does the citizen feel when they are walking or driving on the road?
a. 🙁 Unhappy / Furious / Irritated
b. 🙂 Happy / Delighted / Satisfied
c. No comments.
2. How can they convert their experience into a happy one by choosing following options ?
a. Avoid using mobile phone & be alert on Road
b. Leave early for your destination to avoid stress and avoid rushing in traffic.
c. Follow traffic rules like wearing helmet /seatbelt, follow the speed limit, no drink-n-drive and follow signboards
d. Park in designated places or use local transport
e. Track issues and get them fixed in partnership with the Government body.
f. Not much to be done
“We have turned the table here. Instead of asking others to fix road issues, we are asking citizens to actively be part of solutions in their area. It will help them change their unhappy road experience into a happy one, reducing road accidents”, informed Jani.
The survey form including the pledge was launched today and the results will be released in a month. The initial results show citizens are Unhappy with their experiences on city roads. While the Instagram poll has shown the opposite trend. More than 50% of Instagram users feel they are happy with their experiences of walking or driving on city roads. “We are looking forward to more and more citizens pledging to improve the status quo of our city roads and help make Pune a Zero accident city”, he added.
Take a pledge and join the movement – https://t.co/
