Andhra Pradesh Police and Diageo India collaborate with Institute of Road Traffic Education for a two day Road Safety Programme in Vijayawada

Initiative will help build capacity by training 50 Andhra Pradesh Police officers

Vijayawada, February 26, 2018: Diageo India (United Spirits), today announced the launch of the Road Safety Capacity Building program for the Andhra Pradesh Police together with the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE). The programme was inaugurated by Mr. Goutam Sawang, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Vijaywada; Mr. Kanthi Rana Tata, IPS & Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Vijaywada; Mr. B.V. Ramana Kumar, IPS, Additional Commissioner of Police, Vijayawada, Mr. B. Laxmikantham, IAS, Collector, Krishna District in the presence of Mr. Suraj Srivastava, City Head, Andhra Pradesh, Diageo India and Dr. Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE).

With over 1,45,000 fatalities a year, India accounts for 12.5% of global road accidents, with 1 road accident occurring every four minutes. In 2015 alone, 72% victims in road mishaps were in the age group of 15-44 years and it is estimated that 1.5% of road traffic accidents and 4.6% of fatalities are attributable to drunken driving. According to data by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in 2016, the state reported over 8400 fatalities and over 30,000 serious injuries due to road accidents.

Aimed at achieving higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness, the programme from 26-28 February 2018 in Vijayawada, will provide capacity building training to traffic police and transport officers in road accident investigation and traffic management. The training modules were created after a comprehensive road safety audit of Andhra Pradesh, conducted by the traffic engineering team of the IRTE by means of the mobile crash investigation and research laboratory, CrashLab V8.

Commenting on the initiative, Mrs. Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Chief Strategy and Corporate Affairs Officer, Diageo India, said “The Diageo ‘Road to Safety’ initiative aims to create the necessary impact to address the abysmal state of road safety in our country. By collaborating with the Andhra Pradesh and IRTE, we aim to take this programme to greater heights and encourage more people to become champions of road safety.”

Dr. Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), said “IRTE is committed to building a right foundation to address the issues of road safety and traffic management in India. I would like to compliment and congratulate the Andhra Pradesh Police and Diageo India for having taken this initiative to undertake the capacity building programme for its police force.”

The Diageo India- IRTE ‘Road to Safety’ initiative is currently in its 4th Year and aims to provide capacity building training to traffic police officials and educate commercial drivers such as truckers and bus drivers and university students on the dangers of drunken driving. Each programme is conducted by an expert panel of faculty of the IRTE. The deliberations include causes and consequences of road accidents, rules of road regulations and understanding traffic control devices.

Since 2014, the programme has trained over 4000 traffic officials in road safety capacity-building, along with 6,000 commercial vehicle drivers and over 5,000 university students in more than 60 cities of 17 states. High quality breath alcohol analysers were donated to police departments of several states.