Meerut: The road safety week, that was flagged off on January 9, concluded on Sunday with the Regional Transport Office (RTO) authorities issuing a total of 194 challans to traffic rules’ defaulters. More than 250 school children from 10 schools in Meerut participated in making the week a success wherein city residents were educated about the road safety issues and special camps were organised for cops and drivers. Special drives to curb defaulters of traffic rules were also conducted.“As many as 194 challans were issued by the RTO department in one week. This included challans for not wearing seatbelts, helmets, overspeeding, talking on mobile while driving, no helmets for pillion, drunk driving and other categories. We really hope people understand that following traffic rules is for their own safety,” said Deepak Shah, assistant regional transport officer (enforcement).The maximum number of challans were issued for not wearing seatbelts (34), followed by helmets (27), overspeeding (19), talking on mobile while driving (4), no helmets for pillion (12), drunk driving (1) and others (97).KP Gupta, RTO (enforcement), said, “The week was concluded by an award giving ceremony for the various events that were conducted at school level. These included slogan writing competitions, painting competitions and others. The chief guest of the event remained Arvind Kumat Pandey – deputy transport commissioner.” The road safety awareness week was flagged off by circle officer (traffic) Gyanwati Tewari from RTO office last Monday and it was marked by a walkathon conducted by city students. The road safety week was conducted collaboratively by RTO authorities, traffic police, My City My Initiative – an initiative of Meerut divisional commissioner, Road Safety Club under Mishika Foundation.With 23,219 deaths in a year, UP reported the highest number of fatalities in road and rail accidents. The state is followed by Maharashtra (18,404 deaths) and Tamil Nadu (17,376 deaths). The figures include deaths in road and rail accidents, which are together referred to as 'traffic accidents'. In 2014 too, UP reported the highest number of combined road and rail fatalities by any state in the country at 20,653, of which 16,284 were killed in road accidents alone.

Stay updated with all the Meerut Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.