The state government on Monday signed a participatory agreement with Bloomberg Philanthropies to enhance road safety measures and adopt best practices, including a data-driven approach, to reduce road accidents and fatalities in Bengaluru Metropolitan Region.
Transport Minister B Sriramulu said there was a need to reduce the number of accidents in the city. “The initiative is aimed at saving the lives of people. Our government is committed to turn Bengaluru into an accident-free zone. I hope it will be a success.”
Principal Secretary to Transport Department Rajender Kumar Kataria said Bengaluru saw about 3,000 deaths in 2021. Noting that cutting the number of accidents by 50 per cent was one of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, he said much needs to be done on the ground.
“As part of the initiative, technical assistance will be given to the officials and traffic police who will be trained and exposed to the best road safety practices in the world. We will also create awareness among people through mass media campaigns,” he said.
Joint Commissioner of Police B R Ravikanthe Gowda said the programme should be extended to the entire state, where the number of fatalities are increasing though the total number of accidents have come down.
Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiatives for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) said in a statement that from 2015 to 2019, it supported a global network of 10 cities and five countries to implement data-driven interventions. Bengaluru, it said, was one of the 30 cities which will participate in the latest phase of the initiative from 2020-25.
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Published 21 February 2022, 17:29 IST