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Remembering road crash victims

Accident victims and their families related their real-time experiences and skits depicting post-accident situations and the agony of road accident victims were staged at a programme organised by the Institute of Road Traffic Education in the Capital this past Saturday to commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims.

The programme, attended by over 250 university students from different colleges of Delhi including the Indian Institute of Technology, the School of Planning and Architecture and the Jagannath Institute of Management Studies sought to highlight the problems faced by victims of road accidents and their families. The United Nations General Assembly had in October 2005 declared that the third Sunday of each November would be marked as the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

Chief guest at the programme, Justice Madan B. Lokur of the Delhi High Court said: "From 1970 to 2003, accidents in India have risen four times and deaths six times."

With one million people getting killed worldwide every year in road accidents, 35 million people getting injured in road accidents and 80 per cent of deaths occurring in developing countries, he emphasised that the Government should play a more active role.

Mr. Justice Lokur said the expenditure on road safety measures should be taken as investment instead of expenditure and also road safety should be made a political priority. "The Government should make a road safety target and national road safety plan to achieve it. Vehicle manufacturers must ensure that all motor vehicles have safety measures and no vehicles should be used until there is third party insurance," he said, adding, "commercial vehicles must have speed control devices and bicycle use should be encouraged."

Joint Commissioner of Delhi Traffic Police Qamar Ahmed used the occasion to emphasise the importance of immediate medical treatment of road accident victims.

IRTE president Rohit Baluja announced that before April 2007 launch a Victim Assistance Programme. -- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

-- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

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