Wednesday, 30 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The Dehradun police started a two-day road safety awareness campaign in association with Raghavendra Kumar, popularly known as the Helmet Man of India on Tuesday.The police launched the campaign with an event at the senior superintendent of police (SSP) office in which the police will also distribute 100 helmets across the city too.
Talking about his journey to spread awareness about the significance of wearing helmets, Kumar said that he lost his friend about eight years ago in a road accident because he was not wearing a helmet. He stated, “My friend was young and the only child of his parents- his family was inconsolable after his death. This incident moved me deeply and I decided to let go of my aspirations to practice law to support this cause. I started distributing free helmets to those riding motorcycles bare headed. So far, I have visited 22 states to raise awareness about road safety and the importance of helmets and have distributed about 50,000 helmets which is also a world record.”
The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and SSP of Dehradun Janmejaya Khanduri said that most of the road fatalities can be avoided if one regularly wears a helmet while riding two-wheelers. He said, “Since January this year, there have been a total of 40 road accidents of two-wheelers in the district in which 16 people lost their lives. Most of these fatalities occurred due to head injuries because the riders were not wearing helmets.” He said that this is the reason the Dehradun police decided to start this awareness campaign in association with the Helmet Man of India to encourage and inspire those who do not wear helmets, especially the young generation.
Later, Khanduri flagged off an awareness rally of the Traffic Police which passed through various parts of the city. The superintendent of police (Traffic) Akshay Konde informed that the traffic police personnel along with the Helmet Man will continue to run the awareness campaign on Wednesday too among young students.
