CHENNAI: The city traffic police on Tuesday launched a 20-day ‘Zero accident day’ (ZAD) campaign on August 6, to create awareness among stakeholders including bus drivers, lorry drivers, and motorists. The campaign, claimed to be the first-of-its-kind in the country, was kicked off at the MTC depot on Pallavan Road by ACP (traffic) Sudhakar and MTC MD Alby John Varghese.
Outlining the campaign’s vision, Sudhakar said zero accidents should lead to zero penalties for motorists, zero violations and zero congestion, which would ultimately lead to zero corruption in the traffic police. This comes in the backdrop of the city traffic police taking action against some traffic constables who were caught on camera taking bribes from motorists.
Chennai witnesses 40-50 fatal accidents every month and around 4-5 non-fatal accidents everyday, he said, adding that the campaign will target 300 schools, IT firms, hospitals, lorry drivers, e-commerce delivery executives and resident associations. Everyone would be urged to follow traffic rules, avoid using mobile phones while driving or driving under the influence of alcohol, and wear helmets and seat belts to ensure that Chennai can achieve the target, he added.
At the event, MTC bus drivers C Jayakumar, R Vasudevan, Chandrasekaran, T Amalraj, and Peter Antony, who were not involved in a single accident for over 30 years, were felicitated.