Shubhangi and I visited Goa in October. We spent time with our parents and siblings, and we also conducted three sessions on road safety. It was at the Vidyamandir in Chicalim, and at the People’s High School, Panaji which is our alma-mater.
More information here : RoadSafetySessionsinGoa
As part of the Daan Utsav in October, Qwikcilver Solutions Pvt Ltd picked Road Safety. There were two parts to this : a campaign to increase awareness with the general public, and a specific training session on “Drive Safely” conducted within the organization.
The Volunteers carried out a campaign on Road Safety at the Forum Mall Traffic Junction. For about 3 hours, they walked around with placards drawing attention to road safety. Be Aware. Be Safe. The volunteers were careful not to distract moving vehicles, they walked along the streets where the traffic was halted at the signal to share the message and increase awareness.
There was also an interesting attempt to use “Gandhigiri” for this cause.
The first two chocolates were given to riders using helmets. Then, the idea germinated. The next chocolate was handed over to a rider who had his helmet on his hand with the words “Wear your helmet, so you can continue to eat more chocolates!” It had a great impact! Not just on the person, but others around as well! And so, we gave away chocolates to errant drivers to nudge them towards safety. Drivers who were
… without helmets
… with helmets but not using them properly
… using cellphones
… riding bikes on the footpath
… driving on the wrong side
Here is a sample of the placards used
The Drive Safely Session exhorted participants to cultivate a mindset for Safety. With over 78% of accidents resulting from choices made by drivers ( speed, loading, drinking, dangerous driving, ..) the focus was on defensive driving and saying “No” to distracted driving. The participants signed a pledge, affirming their commitment to road safety, and this was also carried further to others in the organization.
As you know, we, at The Arundhati Foundation are doing our bit trying to find effective ways to tackle the menace of potholes and road safety, and trying to partner BBMP and Bangalore Traffic Police in the process. Last week I got a pleasant surprise when I got a call from BBMP. The person on the phone told me that the complaint I had registered was attended to, and will be closed. I am sharing my experience using BBMP SAHAAYA
This is to urge all fellow-citizens in Bangalore to utilize this platform for driving civic improvements. At the very least, we will have a true picture of the potholes that matter to our citizens!
What’s the story?
Back in January, I discovered BBMP SAHAAYA. This site allows citizens to voice their concerns and complaints related to various categories: Garbage, Roads, Potholes, Encroachment, Corruption, Stray Animals, Pollution, Welfare, Parks, Illegal Activity, Sanitation and Health, etc. And under each category, there are some “complain types” to choose from.
I decided to check out this site, and to see how effective it is.
On Feb 01, 2015, I registered complaint number 9740483; Category = Road Maintenance, Category Type = Potholes. It was about a pothole-strewn road near the Ambedkar Institute of Management Studies, Appareddipalya, Bangalore 560008. The site allowed me to identify the spot via Google maps, and to upload photographs as evidence. The site automatically identifies the department that will need to address this. The priority is also assigned automatically – the user has no control over it. In this case, it was marked as MEDIUM.
I got an immediate acknowledgement, and a message that this will be attended to in 2 weeks. I was impressed. But after two weeks I realized that there was really no movement. When I went to the Sahaaya site, I could not do any active follow up online. I kept at it for several days.
On June 10, 2015, I registered another complaint: number 10504918. I referenced my previous complaint, and also stated that I had no way to query progress against my old complaint. Once again, I got an immediate response saying that the issue will be tackled in 2 weeks. I tracked this again for several days, but saw no progress. I was quite disappointed, and had the feeling that the Sahaaya program was just non-functional.
Then out of the blue, on Sep 17, 2015, I got the phone call from BBMP. I was told the problem has been attended to, and my complaint will be closed. I also got an SMS message saying the same. In fact, I got two of them – one for each of the complaints I had registered.
I went to the site to check, and I was disturbed to find that the road was still in a bad state. This weekend, I made another visit to the site. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that the potholes have been filled, and the road has been tarred! I have provided the feedback via the site that over 6 months to tackle a problem is not acceptable. Further, problems should not be marked “closed” prematurely. Intent is not enough, we need actual closure.
There has been a lot of hue and cry about the state of our roads and potholes in the past few days. Many innocent lives have been lost on our city roads in the past few months. It is heartening to see individuals trying to bring in a change by raising petitions through change.org. We, at The Arundhati Foundation are doing our bit trying to galvanize BBMP and meeting the authorities in the traffic department. All such activities definitely help in putting pressure on civic authorities. All the public pressure might have prompted the action in BBMP, and not just my complaint. However, the complaint at least gave the coordinates of the location, and probably directed the repair plans.
I urge all of you to report potholes and bad roads using this site. Don’t be passive, don’t be indifferent, don’t shrug it off with “nothing works”. All it needs from you is just a few moments to register your concern. After a complaint is registered, the progress may not be to your satisfaction, but there is some evidence that someone is monitoring and tracking, although not all aspects are visible to the citizen. There is a lot of room for improvement, and it is through usage and feedback that we will get this improvement. I, for one, will continue to leverage Sahaaya. This is an attempt to share the experience broadly, so more citizens use the available platform, demand accountability and transparency, and make Sahaaya even better.
Several folks have asked us about the material we use to conduct road safety training for children ( grades 6 to 10 ). It is now available on our website, look for Training Resources on VIKRAM .
I hope some of you take it forward, especially in schools where your children study.
If you wish to download the material, the site will prompt you for your contact information. This is purely for us to know who might be interested in spreading the message. The material is self-explanatory, but if you wish to discuss it, you can always reach out to us.
If you do conduct any sessions, we would like to hear back from you. Share your experience, your feedback, any comments from teachers or children. It will help us improve the program, and also spur others to join the initiative.
Walk Safe, Ride Safe, Drive Safe,
Stay Safe.
We arrived at the school campus off Sarjapur road at about 11:30. The motto of the school is in bright yellow, and says “Our Tomorrow Is Today”. I felt this was quite apt, for we are aiming to inculcate the values of road safety in our young students today, with the hope for a better tomorrow when they grow up and lead by example.
Soon after lunch, the meeting area was buzzing with the chatter of the young students. Shubhi kicked off the presentation and quickly engaged the crowd.
The statistics always hit hard. When Shubhi drove home the point “More people die in road accidents in India, than of AIDS; it is equivalent to a jet-liner crashing every day!!” The impact on the students and teachers was palpable.
They sat up and took notice of the pie chart that says more than 90% accidents can be avoided by defensive driving ( no overspeeding, no overloading, no driving under influence ).
When Shubhi discussed the Tips for Pedestrians, Riders and Children, the young students quickly grasped the reasons behind, and their importance.
One boy chimed in about the motorcycles that ride on footpaths. Shubhi exhorted the students to stand up to wrong behavior and calmly, politely ask the person to get back on the road. She shared her own example: when she urged a young scooter rider to take his helmet out of his bag and wear it. “Your bag does not need protection, your head does! Your mother will be waiting for you at home”.
I saw Shubhi taking a pause and a deep breath when it came to the slide “Why do we do this?”. It is not easy to talk about Aru, to talk of her accident, and how we wish no family loses a loved one to road accidents. I know what she was going through at the moment, but she held her poise in front of the large crowd. I know the word courage comes from “corage” or “cor” which means “heart, innermost feelings”. Shubhi’s effort exemplified this with the courage and resolve derived from our wonderful daughter’s wonderful memory.
This time, we did something different. We introduced a Pledge. The children whole-heartedly joined Shubhi in making the Pledge. I had goosebumps when the voice of 180 children in the room rose in unison to say “I shall follow the rules of the road…”. Shubhi asked the students to sign our Foundation Book if they believe in the Pledge, and if they will carry it forward. It was heartening to see them all come forward to sign their names! We think the Pledge is a great call to action, and not just passive listening.
We also shared a brief animated video created by Toyota Safety Education Program. This is targeted to young school children, and it certainly helped to reinforce the message.
After the talk, students and teachers came forward to talk to us. It was clear that the brief talk had some impact on them. They shared some concerns, they shared their desire to take the message forward, some want to connect us with other schools. We think even if a handful of the audience take the message to heart, it will make a difference!
A big thanks to Riad Mahmood and Priya ma’am, and Sandhya Lovekar who helped organize today’s session.
Students and Teachers of Head Start, we welcome your feedback.
-Sanjay
A post from our friend Savita Thakur who has been working with The Arundhati Foundation in Mumbai.
In memory of Dr. Arundhati, we will join hands in making Mumbai roads safer. We will begin with our neighborhood – getting potholes filled, manholes covered and speed breakers painted. We will update the Arundhati Foundation about our work – Nidhi, Poonam, Prashant, Suresh and Savita ( VITA)
We have reported Savita’s role in making roads safer in Mumbai in an earlier post on our blog : School children can walk more safely now!
Thank you Savita! These gestures mean the world to us!
It has been 360 days since I last wrote my diary. A ritual I followed since my marriage in 1987. I have my life history in volumes of diaries and can find out what I have done on most days in the past years. But today, I finally gathered the courage to glance through the diary almost sensing something…
Last year, it was on this day that Aru had visited home from Vellore , sat on our kitchen top and told me about her insecurities on the roads of Vellore..her words were ” Aaiee. baba, my heart comes into my mouth till I reach my destination either the hospital or my hostel. The roads are so so bad!”
At that point we told her to get a car which would be safer. She was hesitant and reluctant because she did not have that much savings. But we told her that we would loan her the money which she could pay us back . This was done solely with the intend to acknowledge the self respect of a young couple who worked hard and did not take the parents help or money for granted.There was a sense of pride to know that both my would be son in law and daughter were both hard working , self respecting children.
The question was about the road …we had seen with our own eyes when we had been to Vellore the conditions of Vellore roads and this particular road which they travelled on from their hostel to CMC.
What happened during the early hours of the 9th of September precisely a week after this conversation was unbelievable and horrendous..the road killed my daughter…
I have not slept since thinking ‘ What if? And ‘ only if…’
There are many ‘ what ifs..and an equal number of only if’…
Through the pangs of guilt, the gut wrenching pain, the nightmares and horrors of the manner in which she died came the realization that this is not fate but our collective doings as irresponsible parents and citizens. We speak for ourselves. The Arundhati Foundation is thus born out of the lessons we learn.
It is not enough that we cry at our do called ‘ fate’ but we also do something to see that such so called incidents of fate are not part of the fate of others.
Today a lot of transport lobbies are coming together to oppose the new Road Safety Bill which is being proposed by the new Government . The Arundhati Foundation is a part of the ‘ COLOURS ‘ initiative where ten road safety organizations have been trying hard to promote the new Road Safety Bill which has been promised and proposed by the GOVERNMENT.
This bill which started as a powerful bill has undergone umpteen revisions to dilute it to such an extent to lose its teeth under the pressure of various lobbies. And now they are trying to further hinder progress calling for a Bandh .
Bangalore has earned the notorious reputation of being one of the cities with the highest number of road accidents and deaths. Yesterday, The Times of India has brought out the heart breaking story of the death of Sunitha Kumar who succumbed to the injuries she sustained on 23rd of August . That day she lost her son Likhith all of nine years, when in an attempt to avoid pot hole at the SRS junction she swerved to the right and her son came under a speeding private bus and died on the spot. ‘ The government has destroyed our family ‘ said her elder sister Sumitra.
The Vellore municipality is responsible for killing my daughter.
Yesterday a 27-year old police constable was killed on the spot when his motorcycle collided with a truck. The truck driver was allegedly in an inebriated condition.
These deaths are merely statistics for the rest of the world and yet, accidents are the latest epidemics to strike our country. Sixteen people die on Indian roads every hour that is equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing everyday
The irresponsibility of people behind the wheel, the care a damn attitude to rules and regulations, the general disrespect to fellow travelers, use of mobiles while driving, drunk driving, the kind of roads and the general apathy of each and everyone of us is responsible for the deaths on our roads.
We need tough laws only because it seems that unless we are punished we never seem to learn. Why is everybody so scared of the laws? Why does every lobby want the laws to be changed? Does that mean we are only thinking of punishment? But why are we thinking of the punishment ? Punishment is only IF and WHEN we violate a rule.Are these people who want to bring the nation to a halt planning to violate the rules?
I hope not. If you follow the laws why do you need to worry?
Why do you need the bandh?
Today’s Hindu has published an article on Mr Gangadhara Tilak of Hyderabad who is fondly called ‘The pot-hole Doctor’
After we lost Aru in the accident, our restless minds and troubled souls would keep looking for something to fill this ” hole’ in our hearts..it was then that we read an article on Mr Tilak and send out a mail to him on the 3rd of June 2015 for guidance.
Not only did Mr Tilak guide us, he sent this mail to us.
Initially we wondered what ‘ just the two of us’ could do..but Mr Tilak started on his own.
He has been our inspiration.
Thank you Sir, for your direction and encouragement.
I share his letter with all our friends today
Mr Tilak writes. And I quote..
****
Dear sir
Seen your website.
We express our deepest sorrow after coming to know that your daughter, Arundhati is no more among us due to bad road accident.
You are doing a great service to our society . God bless you and madam .
We are praying God to bless you with more health and wealth to do more service .Your proposal for filling pothole to prevent accidents and to save lives is appreciable .
To start with this work a truck ( POTHOLE AMBULANCE) is essential and it is very easy to get the required tools for this purpose .
The only costly affair is to purchase the material. Cold mix , ready made material ( shelmac) is now available in market in 30 kg packs which is more reliable material to fix the potholes and easy to carry out the work. ( once we start this, subsequently we may manage to get the material from municipality , as I’m getting at Hyderabad now)
Few safety precautions to be taken while filling potholes .
The safety of our volunteers is very important.
Another , important aspect is that the potholes filled by us should not become another
source for accidents….utmost care to be followed in pothole filling method.Before going with this proposal, please find out the material availability at your nearest point
Just by searching in the Internet . Hope that you can get it at Bangalore .Once, we are ready with our plan to fill the potholes, we can start it on any day in the month of September where my self also can participate in that holy task.
Now I’m in USA with my son, and we will be back in August ending.
Thank you sir
Best regards
Gangadhara Tilak
I am thrilled that people like Mr Tilak not only help fellow countrymen expecting nothing in return but are also a source of strength and inspiration to a lot of other people.
Stay safe and watch that pothole!
I open the newspaper with anxiety every morning.
Open any newspaper in any city of our country. There is more bad news than good..but my eyes are drawn inadvertently to the news about accidents and those leading to deaths. There is atleast one two wheeler accident everyday leading to the loss of a precious life.
On Sunday morning a nine year old boy lost his life a pot holed road and a speeding truck.
Yesterday a 21 year old newly married girl lost hers. She came under a speeding truck.
These lives are just statistics now..Statistics.
So today let me share some statistics.
Just to spread awareness among the friends of the foundation.
There are 16 deaths on Indian roads every hour.
25 % of all accidents involve two wheelers .
17% involve lorries and buses.
Over speeding and overloading are responsible for 62% of accidents.
6 % of accidents occur because of bad roads including pot holes.
32% due to drunken driving.
If you look at these statistics, you will realize that all these accidents are preventable with a change in behaviour.
Today’s paper also brought the news about compulsory helmet use for the pillion riders. They are more at risk than the rider of the bike.
Don’t blame fate..Accidents can be prevented.
Just like small pox and polio.
Think about it.
I leave you with this photo that was published in yesterday’s Hindu..two wheeler riders especially pillion riders are the most vulnerable on our roads .. Why this unnecessary risk?
We took one more step forward in our mission – we filled a couple of potholes today. Aru met her accident on a pothole-ridden rubble-strewn road. When we filled these potholes, the thought going through our minds was “if only…if only… that road had been good”.
It is no longer sufficient for us to sit back and comment on the state of affairs. There is a “junoon” that makes us go ahead and do something.
We had identified the two potholes on Cambridge Road, Bangalore – On the corner of the street where Canara Bank is. GPS coordinates: 12°58’22.1″N 77°37’36.3″E ( You can check it out on Google Maps )
The state of the potholes After is seen in the picture above.
The “Before” picture is here
Today morning at 6:30 AM, we loaded the car with the material and went to the spot. We wanted to ensure that we did not affect any traffic. Using traffic cones to demarcate the work area, the two of us cleaned up the potholes and poured the Shellmac in. After tamping it in place, we thought there was still a depression in the ground, so we repeated the process. It took us about an hour to complete the work.
There were a few people who came to us to enquire; some made appreciative comments; one person stopped his car and took photos; one person said we should leave it to the people employed for such work; but there were a couple of them who offered to help, and joined us. After tamping the Shellmac into place, we drove the car a few times over the pothole. I have read that this “rolling” helps the compaction.
Work In Progress
A brief note on the material we used:
Shellmac is delivered in 50 kg bags, so it was a task in itself to divide it into smaller lots so we could carry the material to the site. For the two potholes we used approximately 45 kg of Shellmac. It gets compacted as we do the tamping.
This first attempt has given us a feel for what it takes to fill potholes. We understand some of the logistics, the time required, the challenges of procurement of material, and the transportation to the required place. We now need to monitor the outcome – does the pothole start forming again? How soon? What factors contribute to longevity of the repair?
Our individual effort will continue – we will do it on a scale that we can manage. We realise it is big a task to take on the pothole-ridden roads of Bangalore. But with like-minded people, and many hands working together, this is feasible. Hopefully, this will resonate with the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives that many companies are taking up. It can be a great team-building exercise, and it can have a deeper social impact on how we see and use our facilities. It can also help build awareness on road safety. This is not to take away the responsibility from the municipality, hopefully it puts more pressure on the system to a better job in the first place.
