ICICI Lombard's 'Drive thru' rally emphasises helmet usage amongst child pillion riders
Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, and Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard, flagged off the event which aims to raise awareness about road-safety measures among two-wheeler owners with children riding as pillion riders.
Twenty children below the age of 14 lose their lives on Indian roads every day. Two-wheelers alone account for around 25 percent of road accidents in the country, the highest amongst all vehicles, of which 7 per cent involve children.
According to a report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Delhi was the ‘Accident Capital’ of India in 2015 — losing 1,622 people to deadly mishaps. Two of the main reasons for these accidents were lack of awareness and non-adherence to the basic rule of safety — wearing a helmet.
"These grim statistics prompted ICICI Lombard to launch its unique CSR initiative ‘Ride to Safety’. This program is focused on making roads safer for children riding as pillion riders on two- wheelers. The company adopted a two pronged strategy , one to bring out a behavioral change in parents and children with regard to road safety through customized direct contact programs and secondly by distributing child specific ISI marked helmets to children. Since the inception of the program in September 2015, the company has contacted over 35,000 parents and their children. In an important milestone, ICICI Lombard has distributed 24000 ISI marked helmets to children," a company statement claimed.
Speaking on the occasion, ICICI Lombard MD & CEO Bhargav Dasgupta said, “Ride to Safety campaign is part of our vision to contribute to the community at large. This unique CSR program emphasises that children as pillion riders incorporate the road safety habit of wearing a helmet from a young age. Our aim is to see each and every two wheeler riding child with a helmet. We have already distributed 24,000 child-specific ISI-mark helmets to children. We are committed to this initiative and will be distributing 1,00,000 helmets in the next 5 years to children riding two wheelers as pillion riders."
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