Diageo India extends its Road Safety Programme to the Traffic Police of Puducherry together with the Institute of Road Traffic Education

30 Oct 2018 | Press release

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Initiative will help build capacity by training over 100 Puducherry Police officers

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Puducherry, October 30, 2018: Diageo India, today announced the launch of the Road Safety capacity building program for the Puducherry Police together with the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE). The programme was inaugurated in the august presence of Dr. Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry; Smt. Sundari Nanda, Director General of Police (DGP), Puducherry; Mr. H P S Sran, IAS, Secretary Transport, Puducherry; Dr. Siva Kumar, Transport Commissioner & Jt. Secretary, Puducherry; Ms. Apoorva Gupta, IPS, SSP Traffic & L&O, Puducherry; Mr. S D Sundaresan, Addl. Secretary, Hon’ble Lt. Governor, Puducherry and Dr. Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE).

As per industry reports, India accounts for 12.5% (over 1,45,000 fatalities a year) of global road accidents, with 1 road accident occurring every four minutes. Alarmingly, 72% victims involved in such road mishaps are between the age groups of 15-44 years with speeding, reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol being the top reasons accounting for 1.5% of road traffic accidents and 4.6% of fatalities.  In 2017, Puducherry reported over 1690 road accidents and over 230 fatalities according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Aimed at achieving higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness, the programme on October 30, 2018 in Puducherry, will provide capacity building training to traffic police and transport officers in road accident investigation and traffic management.

Commenting on the initiative, Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Chief Strategy and Corporate Affairs Officer, Diageo India, said “The Diageo India ‘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 Puducherry Police and IRTE, we aim to take this programme to greater heights and create a national movement around road safety.”

Dr. Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), said “Increasing congestion, growth of road traffic violations and consequently the fatal and serious road accidents demands a scientific and need based traffic management system. Such a system can only be successful if all the stakeholders are trained in their respective subjects and work together in a coherent and partnered manner. This training programme in Puducherry brings together all the important stakeholders namely: the Transport Department, Traffic Police and Road Authorities in an endeavour to learn and share the issues and problems facing the Union Territory. I stand grateful to the Lt. Governor Dr. Kiran Bedi, the Director General of Police Ms. Sundari Nanda and the Transport Secretary for giving IRTE the opportunity to conduct this capacity building programme, which would not have been possible without the support of Diageo India.”

In its fourth year, Diageo India and IRTE have been successfully running their ‘Road to Safety’ initiative to provide capacity building training to traffic police officials and educating commercial drivers such as truckers and bus drivers and university students on the dangers of drinking and driving. Till date, the programme has covered 17 states spread 64 cities training over 4624 traffic officials, educating 6,000 commercial vehicle drivers and over 5,000 university students.

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