Road Safety week begins with rally
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 11 2014 : As part of the all India 25th Road Safety week observance, a motor cycle rally has been flagged off by the Transport Minister Dr Kh Ratankumar Singh from the office premises of Directorate of Transport.

The rally is a joint initiative of the Transport Directorate, Traffic Police and Royal Riders, an organisation of Bullet Enfield riders.

Deputy Director (Transport) BK Sharma and DSP (Traffic) Y Victoria were also present at the flag-off function.

Till the time of filing this report, the rallyists have reached Bishnupur district after covering Imphal East, Imphal West and Thoubal districts.

In the twin capital districts, the riders covered Nongmeibung, Porompat, Lamlong, Chingmeirong, Singjamei and Kakwa area before proceeding towards Thoubal district headquarters via Lilong.

Traffic cops at the rally

Following a brief reception programme organised by the District Transport Office at Thoubal Mela Ground, the riders resumed the sojourn crossing parts of Thoubal district like Yairipok and Ngariyan Ching (hillock), and returned to Imphal side through the Irilbung, Kongba, Singjamei, Pishumthong and Keisampat Junction from where they headed to the direction of Bishnupur district.

Speaking at the flag-off programme, Dr Ratankumar conveying deep concern at the increasing cases of road accidents expressed hope that various awareness campaigns being planned by the Government during the week-long observance will imbibe sense of cautious driving.

Pointing out that reckless driving has been the major cause of road accidents and human casualty, the Minister said mass rally, awareness programme and painting competition would conducted during the observance period.

He also opined that if under-age driving could be effectively checked, people refrain from mobile phone conversation while driving and driving under the influence of alcohol avoided road accidents would eventually decline.

Along with suggesting that Transport Department chalk out viable road safety policies and traffic police effectively implement road safety measures, Dr Ratankumar also conceded that narrow road width contrary to increasing traffic volume is another cause for motor mishaps.

Highlighting ongoing road widening works in between Maharani Thong (bridge) to Khoyathong and from Keishampat to Malom, the Minister also conveyed that within the city limits the roads would be widened to atleast 130 feet while in the exterior area the road width would be no less than 150 feet.

Engineers are also having frequent consultations among themselves on road designing as well as making spot visits to find out causes of frequent accidents at some specific zones.