Bhubaneswar, July 10: The next time you visit the petrol pump, don’t be surprised if along with fuel for your car you also get food for thought.

A digital awareness campaign launched by the state commerce and transport department aims to educate people about safety on the road and at filling stations through audio CDs to be played at petrol pumps.

In the first phase, 300 petrol retail outlets in the state will play these audio CDs to create awareness about safety while driving and while filling cars with fuel.

Attending the inaugural ceremony of the digital awareness campaign at Jayadev Bhavan, finance and excise minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said that out of 1,000 petrol retail outlets in the state, 300 located on either side of the national highways and in accident-prone areas had been chosen for this digital campaign. “In the next phase, more filling stations will be added to the fold so that the maximum number of people can be educated about safety norms to be adopted on roads,” Ghadei said.

Principal secretary, commerce and transport department, Gagan Kumar Dhal said three oil marketing companies had been approached for help with executing the campaign and they had promised to play a major role in the drive.

In collaboration with the transport department, these companies have identified filling stations with basic facilities along the national highways, accident-prone areas and major filling stations that are frequented by a large number of motorists. “The audio CD contains advertisement jingles about road safety and safety measures to be adopted at filling stations. The CD will be played to educate motorists,” Dhal said.

The audio CD contains voice over in three languages — Odia, Hindi and English. It will also inform motorists about the number of accidents and related deaths and injuries.

“The motorists will learn about the dos and donts during driving and will be asked to follow the rules under the Motor Vehicle Act. Penalty provisions for violations will be highlighted. At the same time, the CD will educate motorists about safety measures to be followed at petrol filling stations, as ignorance could lead to havoc,” said an official.

Last year, around 3,820 people died and more than three times this number were injured in road mishaps in the state. Dhal also said that the transport department was trying to speed up the ongoing process of fixing retro reflective tapes on heavy vehicles to ensure long-distance visibility and high-standard reflectivity. “Around 60 per cent of the work is pending and we hope to enforce it within the next six months. This will reduce accidents on the national highways at night, as vehicles parked on the road can be identified by a driver from around two kilometres away,” he said.

The finance minister also said the government planned to move back dhabas (roadside eateries) and liquor shops along the national highways, as these amenities contributed to several accidents.

Transport commissioner Surendra Kumar said strong enforcement of rules would help reduce the number of accidents, which in turn would decrease the number of causalities on the roads.

The officials of three oil marketing companies, members of vehicle owners’ associations and owners of petrol filling stations in the city were present during the programme.