Ola in association with Bhubaneswar Traffic department organised a 18 Km ‘Road Safety’ Cab March

Bhubaneswar, January 16th, 2017: In an endeavor to raise awareness about Safer roads, Ola, India’s most popular mobile app for transportation in association with City Traffic department organized a ‘Road Safety Awareness Cab March’ in the city last week. The March was flagged off by Mr. Sameer Kumar Panigrahi, Additional Commissioner Transport and Mr. Sanjay Kumar Behera, Regional Transport Officer. The March which started from RTO II and terminated at Rajmahal square via XIMB Square, propagated ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ message widely amongst participants and onlookers alike. As part of the campaign, Ola also promoted “Ame Pahari App” which has been designed by Government of Odisha for enforcement purposes as per the guideline issued by Hon’ble Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety. User of this application can take images/videos of the traffic violators and send it to Transport Department which will in turn help take necessary action against the offender of road safety.

Speaking on the campaign, Mr. Sameer Kumar Panigrahi, Additional Commissioner, Transport (Tech) said “Accidents and negligent driving are two of the most common causes of deaths and injuries in the city. We strongly advice people to follow traffic rules in order to prevent such incidents.  We welcome Ola’s efforts to be a part of this campaign and we are confident that it will play a significant role in creating awareness and reducing instances of negligent driving in the state.”

Kiran Brahma, Business Head Bhubaneswar said, “We are proud to be leading this initiative and partnering with the City Traffic Department, to raise awareness and mobile citizens towards safe road practices. Over 5000 cases of drunk driving were reported in Odisha by June last year; it’s important to understand the perils of negligent driving, and show solidarity towards respecting the local laws and traffic rules. We believe this March, along with similar Road Safety Awareness activities organised by Ola, across the country, will play an important role in educating and raising awareness about safe-road practices, amongst our driver partners and fellow commuters alike.”

Santan Nayak, Driver partner for Ola said “It is our responsibility as driver partners that we practice and promote safe driving practices on road. As drivers, looking out for the safety of fellow commuters and pedestrians should be our top priority. This March marks our commitment to follow traffic rules diligently and use the “Ame Pahari App” launched by our Traffic Department to encourage others to do the same.”

Ola has been spearheading several campaigns for safe rides and roads across the country. It has installed kiosks for checking alcohol consumption limit in popular pubs and offers specially discounted Ola cab rides in Bangalore and Delhi-NCR as a move towards discouraging drunken driving. In the past, Ola in partnership with Apollo rolled out a campaign aimed at raising awareness about giving way to ambulances on the road called #GiveWayGiveLife.  This Road Safety Week, Ola has conducted several seminars across the country for driver partners as well as other commuters. IOla organised a ‘Road Safety’ march in  association with Indore Traffic Police and seminars in Guwahati and Bengaluru last week to educate drivers on safe road practices.

Road Safety Week is celebrated every year in India, in the month of January. This year, we are celebrating 28th Road safety week (Jan 11th – 17th) with the objective of spreading awareness about the importance of safer roads, and mobilising people to be a part of this initiative too.

About Ola:

Founded in Jan 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola (formerly Olacabs), is India’s most popular mobile app for personal transportation. Ola integrates city transportation for customers and driver partners onto a mobile technology platform ensuring convenient, transparent and quick service fulfilment. Ola is committed to its mission of building mobility for a billion people. Using the Ola mobile app, users across 102 cities can book from over 5,00,000 vehicles across cabs, auto-rickshaws and taxis.  Ola has also introduced a range of shared mobility services on its platform like Ola Shuttle and Ola Share for commute and ride-sharing respectively. The app is available on Windows, Android and iOS platforms. Please visit www.olacabs.com and https://www.olacabs.com/media for more information.

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Vatsala Hali | media@olacabs.com |+91 88 61 629562