Keonjhar: Taking a cue from Mumbai Police which has been using popular Hindi film dialogues to promote traffic safety in the megapolis, the Keonjhar police have come up with a plan to use star attraction to create awareness about traffic rules and road safety in the district.
With a view to promote use of helmets while riding two-wheelers, Keonjhar police has started using photos of Hindi movie stars like Salman Khan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Madhuri Dixit and Katrian Kaif on its Twitter handle, which shows these celebrities are seen riding two-wheelers wearing helmets and comes with the message “You will look even smarter in a helmet…… Life is precious…..save it … ‘Shaan Se Pahno Helmet’”…
Talking about the initiative, Keonjhar SP Jai Narayan Pankaj said many motorcyclists just carry helmets in their hand or put on without strapping them. It is a killing habit as using the helmet in this manner will not save once in an accident. “
Pankaj, a 2005-batch IPS officer who earlier served as SP Jagatsinghpur, further said social media is the powerful tool and is widely used by youths. “So we are exploiting this platform to promote proper use of helmets among them.”
Explaining the reason behind using celebrity faces in the campaign, Pankaj said, “Many bikers think that wearing helmets ruin their looks and, hence, they avoid it altogether. That’s why we have used these pictures of these film stars to convey the message that one can flaunt his or her style even when wearing a helmet.”
He added, “Safety is more important than style. Youngsters ought to keep this in mind while driving.”
This is not their first Twitter awareness campaign by Keonjar police. Last year, they shared the photos of Baahubali star Prabhas wherein he was seen wearing a helmet to promote road safety among two-wheeler riders.
Despite the fact that the Supreme Court made it mandatory for all states to enforce safety rules for bikers, the enforcement of the rules is very poor in almost all districts of the state, Pankaj informed.
He informed that according to a latest report, 312 people died in road accidents in the district in 2017. Fortunately, the number of such deaths has declined sharply this year – thanks to repeated awareness campaigns.
Arindam ganguly, op
