Ahead of the annual Raksha Bandhan festival this month, TRS MP K Kavitha has appealed to women across the country to gift their brothers a helmet.
Kavitha had first begun the ‘Sisters for change’ campaign last year, where she asked sisters to tie a rakhi and gift a helmet to their brother. The campaign was inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
“As a politician who regularly interacts with the youth at the grassroot level, it was extremely depressing for K Kavitha to witness the grief and anguish of family members who had lost their loved ones and in enhanced interactions, she was able to understand that more often than not, a precious life could have been saved on a two wheeler if only a helmet had been worn,” a statement from the Nizamabad lawmaker’s office said.
“Kavitha was extremely satisfied, that as a politician, she was able to contribute a little bit towards sensitization about the need to wear a helmet. She wishes to make renewed efforts in increasing the awareness about the dire need of wearing a helmet to a larger audience in the run up to Raksha Bandhan for this year,” the statement added.
— Kavitha Kalvakuntla (@RaoKavitha) August 7, 2018
One Out of 5 fatalities caused by 2-wheeler accidents is due to not wearing a helmet by the rider or the pillion !!
— Kavitha Kalvakuntla (@RaoKavitha) August 3, 2018
Let us inspire our brothers to pickup & wear helmet when they leave the house. This Rakhi let us tie Rakhi & #GiftAHelmet to our brothers. #Sisters4Change pic.twitter.com/RiYn6Ian2i
According to a comprehensive study conducted by the Transport Research Wing (TRW) of the Ministry of Road Transports and Highways, which was published in 2017, it was reported that in the year 2016, the total number of road accidents was 4,80,652 causing injuries to 4,94,624 persons and claiming 1,50,785 lives in the country.
In this figure, 84.5 percent of the people killed in road crashes were male and 15.5 percent were female. The age group of 18-45 years with two-wheelers accounted for a share of 68.6% in the total road accident fatalities.
The study also observed that two-wheeler users were the most vulnerable, almost constituting 34.8 percent of total persons killed in 2016.