Shell initiates road safety programme

Chennai: Diversified international energy company Shell has roped in India Vision Institute (IVI) for expansion of its road safety initiative, "DriveSafeIndia Program," to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, IVI said on Wednesday.

After the launch of the initiative in February 2019, more than 2.6 lakh drivers have been screened and vision issues of about 1.75 lakh addressed by providing them free pairs of spectacles, a release from IVI said.

"Despite the pandemic, Shell continued the DriveSafeIndia program in line with government regulations and safety protocols. As part of their endeavour to continue keeping Indian roads safe, Shell has now roped in another partner, the India Vision Institute (an NGO providing access to vision testing and spectacles to the underprivileged in remote parts of India), to further expand the program and vision testing camps in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka," it added.

This year's DriveSafe India program was officially launched here ahead of World Sight Day (Oct 14) and aims to cover an additional one lakh drivers. Of this, eyecare needs of 50,000 commercial vehicle and truck drivers will be addressed in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and the remaining in other states, it said.