Karnataka State Road Safety Authority launches a new mass media campaign to deter speeding

Bengaluru: Minister for Transport and Muzrai, Ramalinga Reddy on Friday launched a targeted evidence-based mass media campaign with the aim to warn people of the dangers of speeding. This is to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDoR) observed on the third Sunday of November every year. Through the testimonial-style campaign, titled, “The High Cost of Speeding: Story of Purushottama, Geethamma and Family,” the Karnataka State Road Safety Authority (KSRSA) urges people to think of the consequences of speeding and to follow speed limits while driving.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Road Accident Report 2022 released on October 31, 2023, 88% of injuries due to road crashes were attributed to speeding in Karnataka, and close to 92% of lives were lost due to speeding. The mass media campaign, paired with enhanced enforcement, aims to emphasise the tragic consequences of speeding and deter this risky behaviour amongst drivers, which is the biggest road safety risk factor globally as well as in Karnataka.

The campaign is based on the life of a road crash victim KN Purushottama, a native of Tumakuru district, who was hit by a speeding driver while he was on his way to a job interview on a two-wheeler motorcycle in Bengaluru. The crash cost Purushottam a lifetime of disability and inability to earn, while his wife became the sole breadwinner switching jobs to earn a square meal a day for the family. The crash impacted their two daughters’ aspirations as well.

The campaign was launched in the presence of Transport Minister, Ramalinga Reddy, Dr. N V Prasad, Secretary, Transport Department and vice-chairman of KSRSA, Dr. B R Ravikanthe Gowda, IGP, Bengaluru Central Range, Karnataka State Police, M N Anucheth, Joint Commissioner, Bengaluru Traffic Police, A M Yogeesh, Transport and Road Safety Commissioner, Karnataka and J Purushotham, Additional Commissioner and Member Secretary of KSRSA.

Speaking at the event, Ramalinga Reddy said, “The Karnataka government cares for the precious lives of people of Karnataka and therefore aims to strengthen road safety through evidence-based interventions. One of our initiatives integrated within our road safety action plan is to improve road user behaviour through strategic communication, paired with enforcement. These campaigns are designed as per global best practices, aimed towards raising knowledge and changing masses’ attitudes and perceptions regarding risk behaviours such as speeding, not wearing helmets, or drink driving. This particular testimonial style-campaign we launched today - shows how a family had to pay a heavy price because of a speeding driver. I thank the Karnataka Police for enhancing the enforcement on speeding for the duration of the campaign, so as to see a positive change on Karnataka’s roads and make them safer for every citizen.”

Dr NV Prasad said, “For the last five years, Karnataka has seen a huge number of deaths and grievous injuries due to road crashes which are largely preventable. We are working on this holistically with the BIGRS partners from the enforcement, engineering, communication and data angles. Deaths and injuries not only affect the victims but their families too and I admire Sri Purushottama and his family’s courage to be able to share their traumatic experiences with evidence-based social and behaviour change campaigns in Karnataka to see the desired change over time. We want to make the streets and roads of Karnataka safer for every road user.”

The campaign, developed with the technical support of Vital Strategies, a global health organisation and technical partner under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), has been launched by KSRSA for a duration of four weeks in Kannada language on government and private television and radio channels, about 975 movie screens, complemented with the campaign placement in about seven newspapers across Karnataka state. The month-long campaign will be supported by the Police Department’s enhanced enforcement on speeding to achieve high impact of road user behaviour on ground.

Post the airing of the campaign on all mass media platforms, Vital Strategies will also support the government to evaluate the outcome of the campaign among road users using global standards, which will make the government of Karnataka contribute to evidence building for such initiatives around the world.

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