The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Use of cell phones while driving has come down: JCP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 02, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Use of cell phones while driving has come down: JCP

Staff Reporter

`Road safety patrol awareness programme' held

ROPING IN YOUNGSTERS: Sunil Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, interacts with students at a road safety patrol awareness programme in Chennai. — Photo: M. Vedhan

CHENNAI: The sustained campaign asking people to avoid the use of mobile phones while driving has started getting the expected results, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sunil Kumar said.

He was speaking at a `road safety patrol awareness programme' conducted by the TN Traffic Wardens Organisation at Union Christian Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chetpet, recently. He said the number of cases booked for cell phone use while driving had come down by 10 per cent in the city, when compared to that of the previous month. Moreover, people travelling in two-wheelers stopped their vehicles by the side of the road and attended to their telephone calls. This showed a growing awareness among road users on the need for safe driving.

Involving students in traffic management near their schools not only helped the children become familiar with the roads but also gave them an opportunity to educate the public on the need for road safety.

Presenting a report on the Road Safety Patrol (RSP) activities, Senior Traffic Warden Rajan Sekri said that in Triplicane and Anna Nagar of the 270 schools 143 had enrolled themselves in the RSP programme. The traffic wardens had trained 5,169 cadets so far, from Spencers junction to Tirumangalam junction. Apart from conducting quiz programmes for students on road safety, the traffic wardens also taught them road safety mannerisms, he added.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Traffic Warden Azeem Ahmed welcomed the participants. A booklet on road safety patrol was released on the occasion. DCPs Prabhakar and Lalitha Lakshmi, Chief Traffic Warden Harish L. Mehta and school principal Ranjini Matthews participated in the programme. Traffic warden Pradeep Bokadia proposed the vote of thanks.

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