Roadmin for walkathons on Sunday to create safety awareness

New Delhi: Concerned over India suffering the highest road fatalities it the world, the Road Transport and Highways (RTH) Ministry has asked all states to organise "Walkathons" (walking marathons) on Sunday in a bid to create safety awareness among the masses.

As many as 1.38 lakh people were killed in about 4.9 lakh road accidents in the country in 2012. "During the current year, it has been decided to hold a symbolic walkathon on Road Safety on January 12. Involvement of all the concerned agencies like police, health, information & publicity, education, PWD etc and other field agencies like transport and district authorities, voluntary organisations etc may be ensured," Joint Secretary, RTH, Sanjay Bandopadhyaya has written to states Transport Secretaries. Bandopadhyaya has written that creating awareness was essential in the wake of exceptionally high number of road fatalities in the country. Apart from walkathon, the RTH Ministry is also observing January 11 to 17 as Road Safety Week asking all stakeholders to participate actively in creation of awareness. As per estimates, the road injuries impact about 3 per cent of the GDP.