Diageo India collaborates with Meghalaya Traffic Police and Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) for Road to Safety in Meghalaya

6 Aug 2018 | Press release

Download PDF

Initiative will help build capacity by training over 140 Police officers from Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Myanmar and Bangladesh

Shillong, August 06, 2018: Diageo India, today announced the launch of its Road Safety capacity building program for the Meghalaya Police together with the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE). The programme was inaugurated in the august presence of Ms. Kala Ramachandran, Director NEPA, IPS, Inspector General of Police 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. In 2016 alone, the state reported 620 road accidents and over 150 fatalities due to road accidents according to the Road Accidents in India 2016 report by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

 

Aimed at achieving higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness, the programme from August 06-07, 2018 in Shillong, will provide capacity building training to over 140 traffic police and transport officers in road accident investigation and traffic management. These also includes participants from other states including Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

 

Commenting on the initiative, Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Chief Strategy and Corporate Affairs Officer, Diageo India, said “At Diageo, our ambition is to create a positive impact communities we operate in. We believe that efforts to reduce the misuse of alcohol are most effective when government, civil society, individuals, families and industry work collaboratively. Our ‘Road to Safety’ initiative aims to create the necessary impact addressing the abysmal state of road safety in our country. By collaborating with the Meghalaya Police 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 “The Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) is a Centre of Excellence for Road Safety for South East Asia committed to support the development of need-based training programmes for the police of this region. The foundations of traffic management are built by the training institutions to address the crucial issues of road safety management. I would like to compliment the North East Police Academy (NEPA) for organising this capacity building course for officers from India, Myanmar and Bangladesh and recognise the support of Diageo India for making this possible.”

 

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 4624 traffic officials in road safety capacity-building, along with 6,000 commercial vehicle drivers and over 5,000 university students in more than 64 cities of 17 states. Over 133 high quality breath alcohol analysers have been donated to police departments of several states.