BANGLORE: Kids dressed in red and holding sign boards that read — “A signal for a safe life”, “In a full toss, seat belt save you from huge loss”, and “Mummy and Daddy follow the traffic light make my future shining and bright” — marched in a walkathon spreading awareness about traffic rules on Sunday.
Podar Jumbo Kids and Happy Kids organised Kartavya, a walkathon by pre-school children and parents, at Cubbon Park on February 12. The initiative was undertaken for the second consecutive year to help children understand the importance of traffic rules and regulations in the hope that the awareness will spread among parents too. Over 600 children and parents from 30 centres came together to be a part of the initiative. Speaking about the initiative, master franchise of Podar Jumbo Kids and Happy Kids Preethi Vikram said, “In the previous year, we had introduced an activity booklet and board game about traffic safety. These help the kids to learn about the importance of seat-belts, traffic rules, etc.” Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M A Saleem, Inspector Geetha Kulkarni and actress Roopika launched the CD ‘Pappu The School bus’, which is a collection of safety songs and rhymes to educate children on how to sit safely in a bus, how to climb on and disembark safely from the school bus and precautions to be taken while opening windows and using balconies.
M A Saleem appreciated the initiative and said that it was timely and important. “Road safety is a need now due to the increasing number of accidents. Last year, there were 6,500 deaths in Karnataka due to road accidents. Drunk and driving is a menace as also is use of mobile phones while driving and over speeding of vehicles,” he added.
When questioned over the efficacy of the programme, Geetha replied, “Inculcating good road sense in the minds of kids will help them be a better citizen.” The effect was immediate when City Express saw parents like Tiya Chandy state that this programme would make parents more responsible on roads. Amen to that.