By IANS,
New Delhi: Look before you cross the road — this is the message that Delhi Police will put out for people in a two-week-long drive called ‘safe pedestrian crossing fortnight’ from Monday.
“The drive will start from Aug 17 and will continue up to Aug 31. It is an attempt to generate awareness among pedestrians and motorists to become responsible road users. During this period a number of activities to make pedestrians and motorists aware are lined up,” said a senior traffic police official.
The official said that over half of the deaths in road accidents accounted for pedestrians.
“In 2008, there were 2,088 deaths due to road accidents in Delhi and the number of pedestrian among them were 1,075, nearly 51.48 percent of the total deaths,” the official said.
“A pedestrian has an equal right on the road. It is the duty of the motorists to respect the pedestrians’ right,” he said.
“During the fortnight, wide publicity would be given about drive through FM radio stations and print media. We will also distribute literature at major intersections to educate the pedestrians,” he said.
The police have also installed boards and hoardings for safe crossing at most of the major intersections, foot overbridges and subways for educating the pedestrians.
“Mobile exhibition vans are also being used for educating the road users especially the pedestrians.”