Media Release

Karkala, Mar 3: To raise awareness about safe driving, Youth Red Cross volunteers of Manjunatha Pai Memorial Govt First Grade College, Karkala took out a rally here on Saturday noon. The rally that commenced near the college campus was flagged off by the former president of Alumni Association of the college Santhosh Poojary in the presence of the HOD of Commerce Prof Jyothi LJ, Youth Red Cross officer Prof Divya Prabhu, faculty members Prof Sandhya Bhandary, Prof Sushma and Prof Sahana Hegde. The volunteers reached out to the public and campaigned on road safety shouting out slogans like 'Speed Thrills but It Kills', Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer,' 'After Whisky Driving Risky' and many such placards were prepared by the volunteers in English and Kannada.

The motive behind organising the rally was to develop the Youth Red Cross volunteers as a powerful medium to pass on a strong message with a social cause. Inaugurating the event, Santhosh Poojary said that rally of this kind will spread awareness amongst the public and bring down the number of accidents and also reduce the number of fines and penalties. Prof Jyothi JL mentioned that the students should drive with due diligence and care and do not give scope for violation of rules. Prof Divya Prabhu stated that accident cases are increasing day by day and we hope that campaigns of this kind would contribute in creating awareness to the society on road safety and also against ills of negligent driving, driving without helmets, drunk driving and use of phones when driving.

The campaign was successfully conducted with support from the police and the Karkala public. The volunteers shouted slogans covering areas such as the Taluk office Junction, Bandimata Bus Stand, Karkala SVT Road, and then concluded the rally at the Karkala Bus Stand. About 150 Youth Red Cross volunteers made this program a grand success by their active participation.