Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Discourage students from using motorcycles, principals told

Safety matters: Deputy Commissioner of Police M. Ravindranath Babu addressing principals of junior colleges at a meeting in Vijayawada on Thursday.

VIJAYAWADA: Principals of colleges could contribute to road safety by discouraging students from using motorcycles and organising mass transportation options like buses, suggested officials of the Transport and Police Departments on Thursday.

They were addressing a meeting of principals of junior colleges organised by the city police as part of the ongoing month-long awareness campaign on road safety and traffic rules at Sri Durga Malleswara Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala.

Deputy Commissioner of Police M. Ravindranath Babu, Deputy Transport Commissioner T. Raghunath, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) A.V. Ramana, Motor Vehicles Inspector T. Jayapal Reddy, chairman of Krishna district unit of the State government's committee against consumption of liquor, K. Venkateswarlu, and others addressed the meeting. Regional Inspection Officer (Intermediate) P. Brahmanandam presided while SDM Siddhartha College Principals (degree) T. Vijayalakshmi and K. Visala (Intermediate) were present.

Mr. Ravindranath Babu felt that the college managements should impress the students that they should not come to college on motorbikes. The students should also be told not to use a mobile phone while driving.

Pointing to the difference between a death caused by a vehicle user who had a valid driving licence and the one caused by a person who had no driving licence, the DCP said that the law would treat the first case as an ‘accident' and the second one as a ‘murder'. Hence, it was very important to have a driving licence. The use of helmet was extremely important as well, and the police would begin cracking down on violators of this rule from November 15 at the end of a long campaign of education and awareness.

Mr. Raghunath said that the alarming death rate on account of road accidents in Andhra Pradesh prompted the World Bank to come forward to fund a project exclusively for making roads safer, which was a rarity. On its part, the Transport Department tightened the rules for issuing driving licence. No person would be issued a licence without undergoing a test on the driving track. The test was being videographed and shortcomings were being conveyed to applicants. The department was also in the process of acquiring simulators for learning driving. He wanted managements of all colleges to organise buses to pick up and drop students as this would also ensure that the students would not be tempted to go anywhere after college hours.

The interactive session saw principals coming out with several suggestions, including the one to make issues relating to road safety and traffic rules a part of the course curriculum and issuing a certificate signed by the Commissioner of Police at the end of the course. Only those students who completed the course should be issued driving licence.

Another suggestion was made to organise awareness meetings on college campuses once in a month and talk about these issues on important occasions like college days.

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