The right lane

In 2007,261 people were killed in road accidents in the district while the figure grew to 295 in 2008. In Angamali town,30 people died on the road last year. These were statistics that rattled police and road safety experts enough and they responded with a sustained awareness campaign. A year later,the district,and Angamali town in particular,has shown the way to traffic discipline.

According to statistics from the Crime Records Bureau,accident deaths in the rural district have come down by 30 per cent in 2009.

In Angamali town,where the campaign was implemented vigorously,fatal accidents dropped by 60 per cent. This feat sparkles against the dismal four per cent fall in accidents reported from across the state in the same period.

“Enlightening road users was the major plank of the year-long safety campaign. Traffic offences were corrected on the spot by the campaign team,” explains police superintendent T. Vikram. The idea of corrective intervention,instead of challans and punishment for traffic offences,was first mooted by road safety expert Upendra Narayan,a native of Angamali. As a member of the now defunct Kerala Road Safety Council,Narayan had been actively involved in road safety activities in Kerala for the last one decade.

“The thrust of the safety campaign was to give polite advice to traffic offenders,instead of punishing them. We taught road users to respect the rights of others on the road. In schools,students were asked to advise elders in their families against drunken driving,” says Narayan,a former motor sportsperson who ran the campaign armed with a slogan,‘Each one teach one’.

With the support of the local police,Narayan identified the black spots on the major roads in the district. With a public address system on his SUV,Narayan and a police team would tour entire stretches of highways in the district. Their team would flag down errant drivers and,instead of handing out a challan,correct their mistakes. At junctions and bus stops,they issued safety tips and directions. Another area of intervention was correcting the lane indiscipline along highways.

“We trained people to raise both their hands while crossing the zebra line. That gesture gives drivers time to slow down their vehicles. This helped save the lives of pedestrians,who form a major chunk of accident victims in Kerala,” says Narayan.