#TGIS
Panaji has proved to be the safest city for children on roads with a majority (63 percent) of its respondents stating that they felt safe with their children’s pedestrian movement on the city’s roads. This was the finding of ‘Study on Rear Seat-Belt Usage and Child Road Safety in India’, a research report by Nissan India and SaveLIFE Foundation.
Released by Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport & highways, on January 11 in New Delhi, the report marks Nissan India’s data-driven intervention in India’s road safety crisis, which is currently responsible for 53 crashes and 17 deaths every hour. #HaveYouClickedToday, is the company’s corporate social responsibility initiative is taking a message of road safety, with a special focus on child safety to citizens across India.
The city’s perceptions of children’s pedestrian movement were in contrast with the survey’s national findings, wherein a majority (60 percent) of respondents across five cities considered children’s movement across roads unsafe. Parents were also asked about safety measures in school zones. More than 90 percent people in Panaji said there were road signs informing people of the presence of the school. Panaji also ranked highest(93.8 percent) in designated speed limits around schools.
Panaji parents also ranked second-highest (at 88 percent) in their willingness to ask for a law to mandate the use of child seat in 4-wheelers. Road safety proactiveness was also visible in the city’s enforcement. At 59 percent, parents in Panaji felt that the enforcement in slow traffic zones (schools, children parks etc) was ahead of the national average of 36.8 percent. Perhaps this is why a majority of the city’s parents (76.1 percent) showed greater trust in school authorities in providing safe and secure transport facilities.
No Panaji adolescents were found to have been caught or fined by the police for underage driving, in contrast with national findings, wherein 5.7 percent of adolescents had been caught or penalised for the same.
The research for the report was conducted by research firm MDRA. The 11-city study recorded responses through 6,306 face-to-face interviews, 100 in-depth expert interviews, two focused group discussions and on-site observations to gauge compliance of CBSE School Bus guidelines as well as rear seat belt use.
