Raksha Walk Seeks to Raise Awareness About Distracted Driving

Accidents can happen at any time, and when you're behind the wheel of a car all it takes is one moment of distraction to take your eyes off the road and put yourself and others at risk. That's the message the organizers of the annual Raksha Walk in Simsbury want drivers, young and old, to be cognizant of every time they get behind the wheel.

On November 1, 2007, former Simsbury resident Shreya Rekha Dixit was tragically killed in a car accident when she was just 19. The driver of the car leaned over to pick up a napkin and lost control of the car while traveling to visit Shreya's family in Minnesota.

"It was a moment, a split second of distraction," Shreya's aunt, Zarin Kapur said.

Since that day, Shreya's family has been on a mission to help others avoid a preventable tragedy, like the one that shook their entire family.

On Saturday, July 28, Vijay and Rekha Dixit, Shreya's parents, will join other family members and Simsbury residents for the 5K Raksha Walk at Simsbury Farms to raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.

Raksha is the sanskrit word for "protection," and in keeping with the Indian tradition of the Raksha Bandhan festival, participants in the walk will tie a Raakhi, or symbolic string, on each other's wrists as a pledge to protect one another.

"They take a pledge to not drive distracted. We make a promise that we will protect each other on the road," Kapur said.

In recognition of the event, Governor Dannel Malloy has declared July 28 as Distraction-Free Driving Day in Connecticut.

Lieutenant Gov. Nancy Wyman will attend the event and speak to participants before the start of the walk. The walk will begin at the pavilion and follow the trails at Simsbury Farms.

"With a strong desire to turn our grief into doing good, we want to make sure that no parent or family ever has to endure the pain and suffering we have lived with for the past several years," Kapur said in a recent email to Simsbury Patch. And in an effort to accomplish that goal, the family holds two walks annually, one in Simsbury and one in Eden Prairie, Minn., to raise funds that are used by the The Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation to help raise awareness about distracted driving.

"The money raised helps us produce CD's that we distribute to high schools and driving schools," Kapur said.

The foundation is also holding a contest this year for teenagers to come up with a slogan for the distracted driving awareness effort. The winner of the contest will receive $250. The foundation is also seeking local teens interested in visiting other schools to talk about the dangers of distracted driving.

For more information about this year's walk or other initiatives, visit the The Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation website.