Bihar to introduce road safety in high school syllabus

Patna, April 29 (IANS) After introducing road safety in the syllabus of middle schools, the Bihar government has decided to include the subject in the syllabus of high schools also from the 2014 academic session, a state minister said Monday.

Bihar Transport Minister Brishen Patel said road safety would be introduced in the syllabus of high schools.

"The transport department is working to prepare an outline for it. The syllabus would be ready within six months," Patel said.

"Millions of students in class nine and ten would study road safety in detail. We have decided to introduce road safety in their syllabus after it was successfully introduced in middle schools," Patel told IANS here.

He said the government had already introduced brief lessons in road safety for classes six to eight in middle schools across the state.

Patel said that with the incidence of road accidents rising by the day, and with data available to show that most victims of road accidents were in the 10-20 age range, the need for such lessons was considered necessary.

Officials of the transport department said there was one chapter on road safety in middle schools, but about five chapters are planned for introduction in high schools.

Traffic experts and police personnel say the alarming rate of accidents is mainly caused by poor observance of traffic rules.

"Violation of traffic rules is rampant across the state, and use of alcohol by drivers is common: These two factors cause road accidents," a police official said.

Police officials say accidents involving marriage parties are common during "lagan" (traditional marriage season) in Bihar, which occurs in summer.

Officials say hundreds of lives are lost in Bihar every year in road accidents, many of which are caused by negligent or drunk driving.

India has the world's largest number of road accident deaths - the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) put the figure at 1,30,000 in 2010.