Nandkumar Lavand, a bus driver of Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) who served without any accident in his 27 years of bus driving service was honoured by municipal commissioner Rajesh Narvekar.
On April 18, Lavand was among 42 drivers of public road transport felicitated with “Heroes on the Road” for driving a vehicle without any accidents by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi.
ASRTU celebrates "Heroes on the Road" to recognize safe driving
The Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) celebrated "Heroes on the Road" in New Delhi to recognize drivers' efforts in ensuring safety and preventing road accidents while driving public transport buses. The event saw 42 drivers being felicitated with safety awards, with the top 17 drivers having recorded over 30 years of unblemished service without any accidents.
ASRTU's Role in Promoting and Improving Public Road Transport
Currently, ASRTU has 80 members, which include State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTU) and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) under municipal corporations. These organizations jointly operate around 150,000 buses, providing affordable and safer mobility to approximately 70 million passengers. ASRTU primarily deals with promoting and improving public road transport in the country by conducting various meetings, conferences, seminars, and workshops to discuss the latest developments and identify key issues and challenges.
Multi-pronged Strategy to Address Road Safety
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, along with related organizations and stakeholders, has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety. This strategy is based on education, engineering (both of roads and vehicles), enforcement, and emergency care.
Low Road Accident Rates for SRTUs
With regards to SRTUs, the road accident rate in SRTU buses is quite low, standing at just 0.09. Some of the SRTUs have maintained an accident rate much less than the average of 0.09, with Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (Salem), Uttarakhand, Andaman & Nicobar, and Delhi being some of the standout performers in urban transport.
Secretary of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Felicitates Safe Drivers
During the "Heroes on the Road" event, the Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Mrs. Alka Upadhyay, felicitated safe drivers with awards. The drivers, along with their family members, were flown in from all across the country as a gesture of gratitude for their unblemished services.
