HYDERABAD, April 25: District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil on Wednesday stressed consistent campaign for creating awareness about and implementation of traffic rules and regulations to minimise fatal accidents on roads.

The nazim said while speaking as chief guest at a road safety workshop, which was part of the "First United Nations Global Road Safety Week" organised by the management of N-5 South-I National Highway and Motorway Police at a local hotel that lack of awareness about rules, reckless driving especially by teenagers, sudden increase in the number of vehicles, overloaded vehicles and illegal overtaking had posed serious threats to the lives of road users.

Safety on roads was on of the basic rights of individuals and the traffic engineering, administration and organisations concerned must concentrate on creating awareness among roadsters and general public to bring about improvement in the road sector.

Referring to a survey, Mr Jamil advised the use of electronic media for the campaign and asked the authorities concerned to hire the services of electronics as well as print media for the campaign.

About the performance of Motorway Police, the nazim praise the police for its professional achievements and efficiency, which had not only earned it good name but also set an example for all the government organisations.

One could see a drop in fatal incidents on motorways because of motorway police, he and added that the government had made billions of rupees of investment to provide safe traffic environment but unfortunately influential people in this country were in the habit of deliberately violating rules to show off their status.

To curb this practice a consistent awareness campaign was needed, he said. The district government was also taking steps to improve its communication infrastructure.

Sector Commander Hafizul Asad said in welcome address that the “First United Nations Global Road Safety Week” had been organised in collaboration with the United Nations from April 23 to April 29.

He said that since the introduction of N-5 South-I National Highway and Motorway Police, 74,000 road users were provided necessary help, 26 dignitaries including MNAs, MPAs were challaned, 15 culprits were arrested and 10 snatched vehicles and 25 lost children were found while travelling on the motorway.

Ms Gul Sadia of Human Rights Commission, Ghulam Mustafa of SPO and Daman Ali of Sindh Education Foundation also spoke on the occasion.

Earlier, the personnel of Motorway Police and schoolchildren staged a walk from the Shahbaz Building Chowk to the Hotel Indus as part of the campaign for creating awareness about road safety among roadsters.