Commissioner, RPO Review Traffic Arrangements To Avoid Road Accidents Near Educational Institutions

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Dec, 2021 ) :Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah and Regional Police Officer (RPO) Rawalpindi Ashfaq Ahmed here on Thursday reviewed traffic arrangements to avoid road accidents near educational institutions and ensure safe road crossing of the children.

The meeting was attended by Additional Commissioner, Coordination Saif Anwar Jappa, Deputy Commissioner, Rawalpindi, Muhammad Ali, ADCR, Capt (R) Qasim Ijaz, ACG, Maliha Isar, City Police Officer, Secretary RTA, Director Excise and Taxation, Deputy Director Information, officers of City Traffic Police and doctors.

According to a district administration spokesman, the administration on the directives of the Chief Secretary Punjab was taking solid steps to ensure safety of the children on roads near educational institutions.

He said the chief secretary after Bahawalpur traffic accident in which four children lost their lives, had directed the authorities concerned to improve traffic arrangements particularly near schools so that such tragic incident could not happen again.

All the commissioners were instructed to ensure deployment of four road crossing assistants of each school to facilitate the students to get crossed the road. The schools set up in rented buildings located at main roads should be directed to change their location. The condition of the deployment of the road crossing assistants would also be implemented for hospitals.

The commissioner said now no approval would be given for establishment of new school, college and hospital on the main road, adding, all the schools and hospitals should immediately deploy their road crossing assistants.

He instructed the Motor Vehicle Examiners to launch a campaign to inspect all the vehicles and also check their documents.

He said all the deputy commissioners (DCs) and assistant commissioners (ACs) of the division should take part in traffic awareness campaign in their respective areas to apprise the school and college students about traffic rules.

The commissioner said the administration should launch a collective awareness campaign about road safety in collaboration with all the departments concerned including Rescue-1122, Motor Vehicle Examiners, ACs and DCs and organize special lectures in educational institutions to educate the students about traffic rules and road safety. Cat-eyes should also be installed on the roads near educational institutions to curb over speeding, he added.

He said a team consisting of Traffic Police, Rescue-1122 and Highway should also be formed to conduct traffic audit. All the dark spots on the roads should be identified and in this regard the services of a traffic police should be sought, he said.

Action in accordance with the law should also be taken against smoke emitting vehicles which cause smog, he added.

Addressing the meeting, the RPO said every year 18,000 to 20,000 people become disable in traffic road accidents.

Wearing seat belts while driving and wearing a safety helmet while riding a motorbike could reduce the risk to some extent, he added.

He said it was important to spread awareness about road safety education, traffic rules and environment. He also stressed upon the importance of conducting road safety audit.