Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner orders mandatory traffic lessons in schools

BENGALURU: With cases of children being involved in road accidents while crossing roads on the rise, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner G Jagadeesh has instructed the School Education Department to conduct mandatory awareness programmes on traffic safety rules in all schools. He was speaking while chairing the District Road Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday at the Urban District Commissioners office, which was attended by officials from the Department of School Education, National Highways Authority of India, KSRTC, BMTC, and others. Jagadeesh told education department officials that children must cross roads with the help of school ayahs, school vehicle drivers must undergo compulsory checks, and schools must ensure that buses do not carry more children than the permitted limit. To control accidents, he suggested identifying accident-prone locations and installing black spot signboards. He also directed the District Health Officer and Transport Department to prepare road maps identifying GPS-based accident-prone locations so that ambulance services can be deployed immediately at such spots. He further asked all departments to present action plans and measures taken for reducing accidents through a PPT in the next meeting. Cancel licences of wheelie riders As the number of wheelie cases continues to rise, transport officials informed the meeting that youngsters perform dangerous bike stunts on Hebbal Flyover and Kunigal Road in Nelamangala every weekend, causing inconvenience to commuters and the public. Taking note of this, DC Jagadeesh instructed transport officials to book strict cases against them and cancel their driving licences.