People must be sensitised about ensuring road safety and obeying traffic rules as almost 90 per cent of the road accidents are caused due to human error, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Monday.

Presiding over the virtual inaugural function of national road safety month here, he said the theme of road safety was related to the life of every human being. Therefore, the road safety month was important to sensitise the masses.

He said the state is committed to making roads safer, adding that continuous efforts are required to reduce the hazards of road accidents by involving communities and stakeholders in various awareness activities on road safety.

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Thakur also felt the need for active participation of the general public, voluntary organisations, Panchayati Raj institutions, local bodies and related departments to make this campaign a big success.

Thakur said that special training must be imparted to drivers to make them sensitive regarding road safety, especially while driving school buses and professional vehicles, so as to bring about changes in their behaviour.

The state government had taken several necessary steps for improving the black spots on the roads to mitigate the accidents. The government is taking all necessary measures to conduct awareness campaigns for citizens to sensitise the public about the safety measures, he said.

The Chief Minister said that the Public Works Department and the National Highway Authority of India must ensure that the roads are built by ensuring proper gradients and better quality. The authorities must not wait for accidents to declare any part of the road as black spot, but act pro-actively to remove the blind curves at the earliest.

At present, the Chief Minister said, there are 12.75 lakh driving licence holders in the state, including 82,325 women. Special efforts should be made to make them sensitive about road safety and their participation in this campaign should be ensured.

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Later, the Chief Minister honoured Himachal Road Transport Corporation driver Seema Thakur from Solan district and woman commercial vehicle driver Poonam Negi from Kinnaur district.

He also honoured good samaritans Manmohan from Kalpa, Rai Singh from Poanta Sahib and Rajender Kumar from Arki for helping road accident victims. (IANS)