Road safety bus launched in Pune, India

Date: 4/10/2012

To mark the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Indian Air Force, a road safety campaign has been launched in order to fulfil its corporate social responsibility initiative.

A bus specially designed for the purpose set off from the Pune air force station on Wednesday and will be touring the region until October 8th.

It will take in areas such as Vishrantwadi, Yerawada, Kharadi and Ahmednagar Road, where it will be spreading awareness about road safety.

The bus will come to a stop at important road junctions for two hours in order to allow local people to hear the message being relayed.

Officers from the Indian Air Force will join the Pune traffic police in talking to people about road safety and what the best practices are in order to avoid accidents.

Road safety is not a new issue in Pune and this year a number of campaigns have been undertaken in order to improve the area's record for accidents.

At the beginning of the year, 15,000 reflectors were installed on commercial vehicles by the Regional Transport Office in Pune and the traffic branch of Pune Police.

In the two week period that followed a checking campaign was carried out and those without reflectors were issued with penalties.

At the time Arun Yeola said, Regional Transport Officer, said: "As this was an awareness drive we have not penalised owners of trucks, buses and other commercial vehicles running on the highways.

"But after this, in the next drive, we will penalise any vehicle found running without reflectors as per the prescribed norms for fines under the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Act for various vehicle types."

In the summer a campaign was undertaken by the Rotary Club of Pune to promote safe driving on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

In August 10,000 leaflets in both English and Hindi were distributed by the club in order to help motorists improve their driving.

Posted by Nick Anderson

International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News