SIAM commemorates UN’s Global Road Safety Week to create young leaders for promoting road safety

New Delhi, May 2, 2019: Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex body of automobile manufacturers in India, launched a special program today to celebrate United Nations Global Road Safety Week (UNGRSW), which is commencing from 6th May 2019 and will last till 12th May 2019. The theme of this year’s UNGRSW is “Save Lives #SpeakUp”. Present at the event were Mr Ramandeep Chowdhary, Director (Road Safety), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, Mr Neeraj Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Delhi Traffic Police and Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director (Tech.), SIAM. In line with this year's theme, which is to create strong leaders for promoting road safety in India, SIAM, in association with Gyan Mandir Public School, Naraina Vihar, Delhi Traffic Police and Delhi Rotary Club, organised series of activities to spread awareness about road safety for the students and public at large. The event started with a teacher’s workshop on Road Safety, where the need for making students leaders for road safety was stressed upon, followed by a students’ workshop to promote road safety awareness. A declamation contest was held on the theme ‘Save Lives, Speak Up’ for students of classes IX to XII, for collecting thoughts of youth and making them ambassadors for road safety. Students were awarded with trophies, certificates and road safety badges. Also, to drive awareness for citizens, a street play on Road Safety was organised by the students. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ramandeep Chowdhary, Director (Road Safety), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India said “It is heart-warming to see children become leaders of RoadSafety. It is essentially important to help shape children and young people’s understanding and attitudes towards road safety. Schools and colleges can lead the way in making local roads safer, especially enabling other people to walk and cycle safely. I urge everyone to speak-up against offenders of road rules and regulations”. Adding on to it, Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director (Tech.), SIAM, said, “Keeping the promise of ‘Building the Nation, Responsibly’, SIAM, has always been at the forefront of promoting road safety in India. It is an essential public issue which requires collective efforts to succeed, we need to create & reinforce awareness about how each one of us can contribute to it. Through this initiative, we hope to bring out many positive changes and create young leaders to promote road safety in India. These young students are our upcoming users of roads, we will train them in all road safety aspects, so that they can become leaders of tomorrow and demand safe mobility for all”. Speaking on this, Mrs Sumati Anand, Principal, Gyan Mandir Public School, said, “It is an honour to host road safety week activities in our school. Children are our future and we are very confident that through such programs, we will be able to inculcate best road practices in them. We believe each one of us should be aware of road safety and issues related to it should be tackled effectively”. SIAM, in association with their member companies, plans to undertake activities related to UN’s Global Road Safety Week Pan-India. To increase involvement of local community members and neighbourhood schools, SIAM will organise various programs in New Delhi such as street plays/ nukkad natak, rallies inviting participation by members of ‘Interact club’ in association with Delhi Rotary Club, wall art competition, safety messaging stickers on vehicles, placards with the slogan ‘Save Lives, Speak Up’, pamphlets distribution by Delhi Traffic Police, and last but not the least, street fest which will have banners on ‘I Want Safe Journey’ and ‘Reach Home Safely’, along with ‘Trees’ Decoration’ with road safety messages using eco-friendly material.