Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said road accidents have been successfully brought down after implementation of Safe Drive Save Life programme.
Miss Banerjee in her X handle wrote: “Safe Drive Save Life is a programme designed by us to promote road safety through greater enforcement, better engineering and equipment mobilization and intensive awareness building. Our constant campaigns and exercises have significantly reduced the number of road accidents and fatalities, though the campaign continues with vigour. Let safety be paramount on our roads. We have to give more importance to road safety, and especially to avert accidents on streets. Safe Drive Save Life is conceptualized to save lives of people.”
The police vigil on the roads has increased after the campaign, mooted by the chief minister, was launched across the state. Speed barriers were put on the important street at night to control the speed of vehicles. Police vigil is intensified around flyovers to prevent motor cyclists from using them at night. Earlier, bikers carried out racing on the flyovers at night which resulted in loss of lives of several bikers.
A senior police officer said installation of speed barriers at night has prevented driving premium cars at heavy speed at night.
He said talking on cellphones while driving has gone down significantly because of constant vigil by traffic sergeants. The checking of drivers at night at important intersections has brought down drunken driving. Traffic sergeants on motorcycles are on the streets, round-the-clock and intense vigil has forced bikers to wear helmets in areas where earlier they never used helmets.