Govt’s road safety campaign on lines of anti-tobacco drive

New Delhi: Last year, road accidents took a staggering toll of 1,457 lives in the city, with speeding being the primary cause of these tragedies. To curb the tendency to drive faster than the legal speed limit, Delhi govt has decided to adopt a strategy similar to the anti-tobacco campaigns in which victims show the horrendous effects of consuming tobacco.The transport department has created a 30-second public service announcement titled "The Lost Future of Anuj" to raise awareness about the life-altering consequences of speeding and its impact on everyone involved in a road accident. Delhi govt has recommended broadcasting this short film from Sept 1 in all cinema halls in the city. It has also asked the district magistrates to prepare an action taken report and submit it to the transport department.The ad film opens with an image of a hospital, followed by a man recounting his accident. He explains that a speeding car collided with a motorcycle he was riding. "When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital. I lost my job and my fiancée broke off the engagement" the man narrates. He says that the severity of his injuries resulted in the amputation of his legs and his future was shattered. The film then features a voiceover, cautioning viewers that excessive speed when driving can have life-altering repercussions.This and other ad films hope to make people aware of the dangers of speeding and promote responsible driving habits among the public, said a transport official. "By leveraging visual storytelling and the captive audience in movie theatres, govt hopes to effectively convey the message of road safety and encourage better choices behind the wheel," said another official. The public service announcement, approved by the Central Board of Film Certification, has been shared with the district magistrates. A transport official said, "Like the campaign on tobacco that has been going on for some years in cinema halls, we have asked the DMs to start the anti-speeding campaign in cinema halls under their jurisdiction. It is important for the short film to reach out to the capital's people."Other aspects on which the transport department will focus are identifying crash-prone locations, a heat map to pinpoint locations with a high concentration of accidents and the temporal distribution of crash data to enable the determination of the current status and change in the distribution of accidents over time.There were 67,387 hit-and-run cases in India in 2022 with a toll of 30,486 lives, the highest in a decade. There were 1,457 deaths in the city last year, and a Delhi Traffic Police analysis showed 622 (42.6% of deaths) being of pedestrians, 549 (38% of two-wheeler riders and 30 (2%) of cyclists.