AGARTALA, January 3 (TIWN): For observance of 26th Road safety week in the south Tripura district, a preparatory meeting was held in the DM& Collector Conference Hall, here today at 3 PM.
DM South RK Noatia, Addl SP South, CMO South, District Transport Officer Debdas Debbarma and District and Sub Divisional officer were also present in the meeting.

This year's theme is 'road safety is not just a slogan; it's a way of life'. 
With a high number of road fatalities and injuries in the town as well as across the state, the emphasis is to spread the message of safe driving. The ministry of road transport and highways has been organising road safety week in January for 26 years. The state government has enhanced it to a fortnight since the last four years. 
In the city, road accidents claim more than 500 lives and at least 100 people are seriously injured, every year. The traffic branch, regional transport office, highway police and key departments related to construction of roads and traffic management have organized various events in the city.

Since the high number of road fatalities (over one lakh per year) in the country causes trauma to the family of the deceased, the ministry of road transport and highways has asked state governments, transport undertakings, vehicle manufacturers, and NGOs to observe road safety week from January 11 to 17. 
Besides asking transport departments and NGOs to undertake activities on road safety, the ministry has emphasized on spreading information about the Supreme Court's directive that the effort to save the person should be top priority, not only for medical professionals but even the police and citizens. 
In recent presentation on road accidents by Pune-based Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) said India has one of the highest per capita accidents in the world with roughly 1,37,572 people getting killed and about four lakh getting injured or crippled every year. 
CIRT director Abhay Damle said the World Health Organization's global road status report states that India tops the world in road fatalities. With just 1% of the global vehicle population, India has more than 10% of the total road accident fatalities of the world. 
As per statistics, accident takes place in every 80 seconds, and a fatality every four minutes. In Maharashtra, more than 10,000 people die in accidents every year, while over 40,000 people are injured. 
The state is likely to announce the road safety fortnight to coincide with the road safety week here this month.