As around 95 per cent of road accidents in Himachal Pradesh occur due to human errors, there is a need to create “road safety culture” among masses through awareness campaigns to check road accidents, HP Principal Secretary, Transport, K K Pant said on Wednesday.

Addressing the meeting of the state level standing committee constituted for road safety, Pant said besides enforcement and other measures, concerted focus and initiatives should be on greater public awareness on road safety through audiovisual, social, print and electronic media to encourage greater public involvement.

The Principal Secretary said that National Road Safety Month will be observed from 18 January to 17 February, 2021 with an aim to make people aware for obeying traffic rules.

“During this, people would be informed about the rules related to road safety through various awareness programs.

It is necessary for measures related to road safety that the participation of the general public be ensured,” he added.

The Principal Secretary, Transport emphasized to make Panchayati Raj institutions aware and said that the width of land gifted by residents for the construction of roads in public interest is less than the required width making these roads prone to accidents.

“The representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions would be made aware of this so that the land could be obtained according to the required standards in future.

According to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, people who assist in the event of an accident do not face any kind of legal problem.

Such a person could not be forced by the police or anyone else to reveal their identity. Any passer-by, who assists the person met to an accident, known as Good Samar i tan, cannot be restrained in the hospital, cannot be taken to the police station for interrogation, cannot call them to court for testimony and cannot even be summoned,” he said.

He added that the number of deaths in road accidents would be reduced by participation of ‘Good Samaritans’.

He also stressed on public awareness to ensure participation of more and more ‘Good Samaritans’.

Director Transport Anupam Kashyap, Special Secretary Finance Rajesh Sharma, Additional Director Traffic Hemis Negi, Engineer-in- Chef Public Works Department Bhuvan Sharma and officials from other stakeholders departments were also present on the occasion.