Under the auspices of the Sarvejana Foundation, a unique road-safety initiative was launched on Wednesday with the aim of transforming Hyderabad into “Saferabad.” With a firm resolve to stop premature deaths, Yamadharma is appearing at major traffic junctions across Hyderabad for a day each—educating people who ride without helmets or drive without seat belts. 

At an awareness program at Rasoolpura Junction, the Foundation Chairman Dr. A. V. Gurava Reddy stated that the foundation has selected 365 major junctions across the city and will carry out road-safety programs at these locations throughout the year with a mission to reduce untimely deaths. Dr. Gurava Reddy explained that the seven deadly sins—over-speeding, drunk driving, using mobile phones while driving, signal jumping, driving on the wrong route, not wearing seat belts, and not wearing helmets—are the reasons why one person dies every three minutes in India due to road accidents. 

Although India has only 1% of the world’s vehicles, the country accounts for 16% of global road-accident deaths, which is alarming. Arjun Rao, dressed as Yamadharma Raja, used the symbolic “Yama Paasha” to educate people about the seven deadly sins of road safety.