Observance of Road safety Month concludes at a city prog
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 14: Road accidents are increasing at an alarming rate in the state and close to 100 precious lives have been lost in East Khasi Hills alone in the last two years.
This revelation was made by the Superintendent of Police (Traffic), K Prasad, during the observance of National Road Safety Month 2024, which concluded here on Wednesday.
It aimed at creating awareness about the need to make roads safer for everyone.
The progamme held at the Parking Lot opposite SBI Main Branch, Shillong, was organised by the District Transport Officer, East Khasi Hills, in collaboration with the district administration and police.
As per the police statistics, in a total of 61 fatal cases in 2022, 47 people lost their lives, while 53 sustained grievous injuries.
The number of fatal cases stood at 49 in 2023, and 43 people died, while 16 sustained severe injuries.
This year, already 6 fatal cases have been reported in the district in which five people have lost their lives while 13 have sustained grievous injuries
If one accounts for the road accidents in the state, the numbers are even more alarming.
The SP (Traffic), Prasad said thousands of lives are lost by accident annually and the reason is due to rash driving, over speeding and not respecting others’ rights.
To reduce the number of fatal accidents, the drivers have been urged to drive cautiously and not to overtake on busy roads of Shillong as they carry lot of responsibilities not only for their own life but others too.
The Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills, District RM Kurbah, while addressing the drivers at the programme, said the observance of the occasion is very important since we are talking about life, which is precious and we should not play with it.
She also said it is very important to organise similar programmes very often as many people are aware of their rights but they neglect their fundamental duties.