The city police launched a 16-day road safety training programme for auto-rickshaw drivers, here on Sunday. Home Minister V. Anitha inaugurated the programme. Around 4,000 auto-rickshaws run in the city limits on a daily basis. The police will be conducting the training to around 250 auto-rickshaw drivers everyday for about 16 days.
Commissioner of Police Shankabratha Bagchi said that during the year 2024 alone, 80 accidents were reported involving auto-rickshaws, in which 19 were fatal and 61 non-fatal. As many as 19 people died and 101 people were injured, he said.
The main motto of the training programme is to reduce auto-rickshaw accidents, especially while ferrying school students. Such meetings were also necessary to establish coordination between the police and the auto-rickshaw drivers. Further, the police can also take assistance for crime prevention and detection from the drivers, he said.
As part of the programme, the auto-rickshaw drivers would have five classes. Defensive and safe driving techniques, speed management, autorickshaw driver violations, BNS and MV Act rules, need for documents, case studies and a few others were taught.
Visakhapatnam Deputy Transport Commissioner Adinarayana, senior traffic police personnel, retired traffic police officials and others would take the classes. During the launch, Home Minister V. Anitha interacted with the auto-rickshaw drivers, who informed her about their issues.
Published – December 08, 2024 11:11 pm IST
