<![CDATA[Madurai: An effort has been taken by the Madurai City police in a view to make December 2018 free from any deaths due to road accidents. In this regard a variety of initiatives have been taken and the police have launched an intensive campaign. Mr. S. Davidson Devasirvatham, Commissioner of Police, Madurai City said even when there is a sharp increase in the number of fatal accidents normally in the month of December the city police have taken it as a challenge to strive to make this December free of fatal accidents. He said the campaign will be conducted and will include awareness programmes through different means, strict enforcement of rules and improvement of road safety measures. The awareness programmes has been planned to be conducted through the ‘Road Safety Express’ of city police, street plays by members of the Police Boys and Girls Club in Karumbalai and college students, distribution of pamphlets, and advertisements in cinema halls and through FM radio channels. A launch of the website www.safemadurai.org was conducted on Saturday and the website provides information on the number of accidents, rules and regulations, awareness videos, and options to report traffic violations and volunteer for road safety initiatives of the city police. Accepting that the cases registered for traffic violations have come down in 2018 compared to the previous year, he said that police personnel have been asked to intensify enforcement measures. The Police Commissioner has appealed for the cooperation from the public saying that the accidents can be brought down only when people obey to traffic regulations and take care of their own safety seriously. He said that the things that need to be avoided completely are drunk and drive, over-speeding, and riding two-wheelers without helmet. He said the roads that are in poor condition are being repaired by carrying out patch works by the police themselves in a few places. He added saying that we have also asked Madurai Corporation to carry out the repair works in certain stretches of the road that is in poor condition. The Commissioner also highlighted the point that by the implementing road safety measures, particularly by placing barricades in a zig-zag arrangement as a speed control measure, has helped in reducing road accidents considerably. He added saying that the Avaniapuram to Airport road, which is vulnerable to accidents, has not witnessed any fatal accidents in the past three months. Mr. Arun Balagopalan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Madurai City, was also present at the website launch. ]]>
