Bhubaneswar, Jan. 16: Students of schools run by the Board of Secondary Education will study basic traffic rules as part of their curriculum after the state government decided to include road safety in the syllabus from the next academic session.

In the first phase, students of classes V to VIII will study the new curriculum.

Transport officials said the school and mass education department had already directed publishers to include various aspects of road safety in the curriculum. "The motive behind the initiative is to create awareness among schoolchildren from a young age. They will be educated about the necessity of wearing a helmet and obeying traffic rules," said a transport official.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 28th Road Safety Week here today, home secretary Asit Tripathy said there was a need for road safety awareness to tackle accidents.

"There will be designated paths for pedestrians and cyclists in the capital, apart from parking lots for trucks," said Tripathy.

The decision to include road safety in the curriculum was taken in view of the rise in the number of accidents involving motorcycles over the past three years. "Around 30 per cent accidents involve two-wheelers, while most of those who succumb are college or school-going students," said a transport official.

A transport official said there were 251 black spots (accident prone areas) on national highways, state highways and other district roads. They had identified the authorities concerned and asked the officials to rectify the problems. "We have decided to conduct road safety audits on national highways, state highways and other roads. We have suspended the driving licenses of around 25,000 drivers," said a transport official.

Official statistics suggest there are 65 lakh vehicles in the state, while around 6 lakh new vehicles are added every year. "If this trend continues, the number vehicles will jump to 90 lakh in the next five years. Around 70 per cent of registered vehicles are two-wheelers, which are susceptible to accidents," said the official.

National Crime Records Bureau statistics estimate that there were 9,640 road accidents in the state in 2014, which claimed 3,920 lives. The number stood at 10,542 in 2015. That year, 4,303 lives were lost.