Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) The National Safety Council's Maharashtra chapter (NSC-MC) and Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) of the state government launched "guidelines and SOPS on road safety for Industries'' here on Saturday.

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Addressing the programme, Additional Director General of Police (Traffic) Kulwant K Sarangal stressed on the need to focus on the behaviour of drivers, besides their education, to improve road safety.

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"When we are travelling in a vehicle as a co-passenger, we should keep a close watch on the driver's behaviour," Sarangal said, adding that if the motorist's behaviour is not proper, our life is at risk.

State Transport Commissioner Avinash Dhakane said the focus should be on two-wheeler riders and pedestrians, who are vulnerable to road accidents.

"Our focus should not be just on heavy vehicles and buses. Our focus should be more and more on people who are dying in road accidents, and these are two-wheeler riders and pedestrians," Dhakane said.

Mukesh Patil, additional director DISH, said that transportation of hazardous chemicals has added to the road safety concerns.

He requested the NSC-MH to organise training programmes for drivers about handling hazardous chemicals.

At least 1.33 lakh people have lost their lives in road fatalities in the county and 12,000 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, said KVRK Prasad, director of the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT).

The NSC-MC had been awarded the project titled 'Advocacy of Road Safety in Industries' by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP).

Under the supervision of a task force and in consultation with CIRT, the guidelines and SOPs on road safety for industries were prepared.

"This document will guide industries in Maharashtra for implementation of road safety policy and create road safety awareness amongst the industrial population and public at large," a release said.

As a part of the project, a task force on road safety was constituted with representation from the DISH, highway traffic police, state transport department and industries from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

"The overall purpose of the project is to contribute to building road safety culture in the industrial sector by helping the industries develop and implement strong road safety policies focused on road user behavioural risk factors," NSC-MC stated.

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