Olympian Wrestler Sushil Kumar Flags Off Road Safety Cyclothon Five km Cyclothon Held to Highlight Road Safety Issues

Olympian Wrestler Sushil Kumar  Flagged Off Road Safety Cyclothon here this morning in presence of cricketer Ajay Jadeja ,Shri Vijay Chhibber, Secretary Road Transport &Highways and Shri. Bhim Sain Bassi, Commissioner of Police, Delhi.

The Senior officers of the Ministry and Delhi Police also participated in the cyclothon. The 5 km cyclothon was organised by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways in collaboration of Delhi Police and the International Road Federation.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has been making effort to make the issue of road safety , a national movement by involving various sections of society and stakeholders. In this common effort towards making roads safer, one of the areas of weakness identified has been low level of focus accorded to the safety of population using bicycles in the country. Cycles alone account for around 8000 fatalities every year. Use of reflectors and reflective tape on bicycles ensures that they are visible, and hence safe, at all times. It is with this in mind that it was decided to highlight this aspect by organising a 5 km Cyclothon involving civil society, youth and others.

India today faces an epidemic of road accidents which results in over 1.38 lakh fatalities and a substantially larger number of injured and disabled, causing immense socio economic trauma to victims and their families. At a macro-economic level it is estimated by various agencies that road accidents in the country accord for a loss of almost 2% GDP every year, in addition to the personal trauma.