Hyderabad, October 28: In order to tackle drunken- driving, the Hyderabad Traffic Police (HTP) will soon intensify checking and enforcement on roads after completion of training of its personnel with modern equipment. Traffic police officers are being trained here as part of the global `Road Safety 2010′ project (RS10) by the WHO, which is being implemented in Jalandhar and Hyderabad. To ensure effective drunken-driving enforcement, high- tech equipment are being provided to police, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) C V Anand said today.
“Drunken driving has been identified as a major causative factor for road-crash related deaths in India,” he told reporters here. As part of the `Training of Trainers’ programme, former Chief Inspector of the Victoria Police of Australia, Des Myers, Enforcement Trainer for the RS-10 Project, imparted four-day training on road safety to 45 police officers along with staff of the Traffic Training Institute here, Anand said. India is among ten countries where WHO, along with consortium partners, is implementing the Road Safety Project (RS 10) to reduce death and disability through road traffic injury prevention projects.
Every year, world-wide, more than 13 lakhs lives are being lost due to road accidents. In India too, there are 1.2 lakh deaths every year. Under the project, HTP has received 10 breath analysers, 220 digital still cameras, 300 barricades, 550 reflective jackets and 450 LED batons, the senior traffic official said.
–PTI–