pune college students will be the focus of the 27th road safety week slated to begin on sunday young vehicle users form a significant chunk of traffic offenders found speeding riding triple seat jumping signals driving when drunk and not wearing helmets to reach them and spread awareness about the importance of traffic rules transport and traffic authorities have organized lectures discussions and other engaging activities in some of the biggest educational institutions in the city including the savitribai phule pune university abasaheb garware college sndt college and sp college the inaugural event of the weeklong celebrations was held in the amphitheatre of fergusson college on saturday organized by the regional transport office rto on behalf of the district road safety committee the event brought hundreds of college students face to face with senior officials of the rto and traffic police guardian minister girish bapat corporator medha kulkarni and divisional commissioner s chockalingam data compiled by the traffic police and the national crime records bureau reveals that youths form a significant chunk of all road accident fatalities in the city those in the productive age group are also the most likely to be caught for a traffic offence flouting of the helmet rule overspeeding and driving under the influence of alcohol are most commonly reported among vehicle users in the age group of 1840 years that pedestrians cyclists and twowheeler riders are the most vulnerable road users is what prompted the decision to reach out to students regional transport officer jitendra patil said after heart disease and diabetes road accidents are the third biggest cause of fatalities every year these are unnatural and untimely deaths which can be prevented simply by following traffic rules over the week we will be reaching out to students to sensitize them on the importance of wearing a helmet and seat belt following traffic signals the correct way of driving and other common mistakes that can be avoided he said divisional commissioner s chockalingam mooted the idea of starting a hall of shame for traffic offenders to deter citizens from flouting rules he found it sad that citizens argue against something which is internationally practised for the drivers safety helmets and seat belts are the two simplest ways of avoiding serious injuries he said corporator medha kulkarni chose to speak to the students from the point of view of a mother when risking your life by flouting laws spare a thought for your parents and family we need to become the change that we want to see in our city she said the culture of a city is reflected at its traffic signals according to sarang awad deputy commissioner of police traffic he stressed on the importance of self discipline among all road users we must understand that everyone contributes to the mess on the road following traffic rules is a culture most of the road accident fatalities in 2015 were of twowheeler riders and pedestrians one may not always be able to prevent an