31st National Road Safety Week – January 2020

31st National Road Safety Week – January 2020

1.5 lakh lives are lost every year and many more are debilitated on Indian roads due to road crashes. This causes the families of victims with immense economic hardship and emotional trauma. According to the WHO reports, road crashes are one of the leading cause of deaths among the youth between the ages of 5-29 in India and worldwide.

To make our roads safe for all road users and to reduce the crash rates, every year “National Road Safety Week” is observed throughout the country. The focus of the activities of this week is to create more awareness among road users about the road safety and to emphasize good road using practices.

To observe this year’s 31st National Road Safety Week, Institute of Public Health in association with HKBK Group of institutions and Indian Degree College under banner of Safer roads Bengaluru initiative organised a bunch of activities from 14th to 17th of Jan 2020 at our selected stretch of road in Bengaluru. Signature campaign #IResolve4RoadSafety, Quiz on road safety for public and college students, Human chains at major junctions are the main activities among all other activities.

We were at all major junctions of the selected stretch of road from Hebbal to K R Puram throughout the Road Safety Week. A signature wall with student volunteers was present at all the junctions seeking public commitment for road safety. Around 3000 people committed for safer road usage through signing on our campaign wall.
Quiz on road safety witnessed more than 5000 participation. Winners of the quiz were awarded with a ISI marked 2-wheeler helmets by #SaferroadsBLR initiative. We also engaged people through our social media platform Facebook and twitter for the broader reach.

Signature Campaign Against GTNF

A signature campaign was launched by IPH to engage with and garner support for a petition demanding withdrawal of Indian Tobacco Board’s sponsorship to Global Tobacco Networking Forum, a tobacco industry event scheduled to be held in Bangalore in October 2010. Signatures were collected from students at various schools/colleges as well as form health professionals at various social events including the national meeting of Advocacy Forum on Tobacco Control (AFTC).  Campaign was supported by two AFTC member NGOs (Pasumai Thayyagam and Gramin Shikshan Charity Foundation) from Bengaluru city and other parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In total, campaign led to collection of more than 33,000 signatures. As part of the campaign,  an online petition was also launched and disseminated using emails and social media like Facebook and Twitter.