On  Sunday 26 July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought Road Safety to the fore. Mann Ki Baat 2015-07-26. The PM especially says that apart from government, it is also the duty of families to inform youngsters about importance of road safety.

Today’s Hindu carries an article on the initiative of the National Safety Organization and the Bangalore Traffic Police  Catching Them Young With Traffic Lessons

The Arundhati Foundation applauds them.

We are also working along similar lines. We have put together an awareness program for school children. Considering the audience, the focus is

• safety for pedestrians ( walking or crossing the roads )
• safety for two-wheelers ( both cycle, and scooters to include senior students ), and
• safety for children ( younger siblings and friends, safe behaviour when riding in cars or pillion on two-wheelers )

We will share more after we conduct a session.

One other group that is of interest is the people with learner’s license – preparing to be regular drivers.

Given the complexity of the problem of Road Safety, work has to be done on all fronts : Education, Engineering, and Enforcement. By inculcating these values of safety in the young generation, we have a better chance to improving safety on our roads.

The Hindu reported a nice initiative from GVK-Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) ‘108’ Ambulance Service : Using the app to call the ambulance service easily, to determine location of the caller swiftly, and directing the closest available ambulance.

App For 108 Ambulance

On Jul 10, 2015, the Hindu reported the lack of coordination between BWSSB and BBMP : Unmaking Of A Road

This is not new, and yet every time it happens, we hear the same stories about how there is no communication between the agencies. The news report says that the agencies have been directed to meet once/week to improve coordination.

Our submission is that the process has to be aided by technology to provide transparency, and complete visibility. The projects can be easily located on the Bangalore map. This can happen as soon as the project intent is known. The updates will be instantaneously visible on the map, and thus conflicts can be highlighted. Decisions can be faster, and better-informed, with the aid of data.

In a related article in the same newspaper, Roads Still Riddled With Potholes, BBMP is said to have set a deadline of 10 days to fill 3623 potholes.

Once again, there is no sanctity to these numbers unless there is transparency. The same technology can be leveraged to identify the problem location, check that the fix location matches, and share with the public.

On June 12, The Hindu reported a BBMP official stating that the city roads have 5000 potholes to be filled. 50 special teams have been formed to cover all major, arterial and sub-arterial roads. The audit aims to do a ground reality check of the condition of the city’s roads.

5000-potholes-are-yet-to-be-filled

One week later, on June 19, the Hindu reported BBMP statement that there are 2631 potholes to be filled.

2631-potholes-to-be-filled-in-city

It is a welcome change to hear BBMP officials admitting that the problem of potholes is widespread, and is causing serious problem to the commuters. However, it is hard to believe that about 2400 potholes were fixed in a week.  Unfortunately, with no scientific way of gathering and maintaining data, and no transparency in sharing it, the numbers are left to convenient interpretation.

There was a novel protest by an artist who created a “crocodile pond” using a pothole!

crocodile-on-road

Away in Mangalore,  citizens planted saplings to draw attention to potholes.

saplings-in-potholes

These are indeed clever, unconventional methods employed by frustrated citizens to draw attention of the responsible authorities. Some do bring about the desired change. However they are few, and far in between.

We would like to work with BBMP and like-minded organizations to bring technical solutions which will aid this process and help the municipality to direct its funds appropriately.

Kudos to the young man who thought of preventing injuries to others despite his own pain. That one spark ignited the others around, and it was contagious! Thanks to Shilpa Shree for sharing this, and her contribution to make our streets safe.

Each one of us can make a difference!

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Every time I hear of road accident death instances, my heart goes out to grieving families. I have lost a dear one too. Sometimes it angers me that the collective conscience of our country seems to be dead and we have become insensitive to the grieving families and we don’t seem to value a life. But sometimes certain instances rejuvenate hope in us. This is the story of one such incident.

It was a normal day. As usual, I stepped out for my walk in the evening. I took the usual route, which is a five minute distance from my residence to Aarey Bhaskar (the nearby garden with a decent walking track of 450 metres).

Just a minute before I reached my destination I saw a crowd of 4-5 people standing next to a couple of bikes parked on the roadside. Two of them were mildly limping. As I headed close to them I noticed a trail of black liquid that seemed like oil which must have leaked from a truck that had just passed. Obviously these two guys skidded over it and had a fall.

It touched my heart to see that 2-3 other college going students along with these two people who had fallen were alerting the other two wheelers that came the same way about the oil spill.

I walked towards the lanky fellow who was hurt and asked him how is he doing. “I first need to do something about this oil spill madam. I am thinking of that. I don’t want anyone else to fall,” he said. I could not stop a tear that fell from my eyes. He became my instant hero.  Instead of letting me float away in my thoughts, he brought me back to reality with his urgency.

“Madam, hum kya kar sakte hai? Mera dimaag nahi chal raha. Mere paav mai bohut dukh raha hai (Madam what do you think we could could do? My mind is not working. My leg is hurting). I just want make sure that this oil spill is taken care off,” he said.

A collegian around suggested that we pour mud over the spill so that mud adds a friction preventing the two wheelers from falling. We immediately ran towards the nearby shops, picked up buckets and anything that resembled a spade and started digging mud that lie near Aarey Bhaskar and gently laid it on the spill. When we began we were about 6 people, but soon the number swelled to about 30. In 10 minutes the entire 200 metre stretch of oil spill was covered with mud.

That day I realized, if we as a citizen help ourselves by being a little selfless, the nation will join us. It restored my faith in humanity.

–Shilpa Shree , Mumbai

MAJOR UPDATE from the Save Life Foundation :

Government of India issues guidelines to protect Good Samaritans who help accident victims.

Three years ago, the Save Life Foundation filed a PIL in the Honourable Supreme Court of India requesting it to lay down guidelines to protect Good Samaritans (those who help injured persons) from harassment and intimidation at the hands of Police, Hospitals and Courts. 

Today is a landmark day for us – a HUGE victory!! 

Update  June 7, 2015

On 3 June 2015, we met M.A. Saleem. He is the Additional Commissioner of Police  ( Traffic ), Bangalore. This proposal resonated well with him. He has already implemented a manual system of flow control – using a traffic policeman. After observing the positive outcome for a few days ( 15 days ) he plans to implement the traffic signal to regulate traffic. In this timeframe, he is also looking to demarcate areas for bus stops.

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May 31, 2015

Here is a small effort to suggest a solution to calm the traffic at KR Puram Bridge, and thus reduce the stress, and the risk of accidents.

The background : We had filed an RTI to find the blackspots in Bangalore. KR Puram – Old Madras road had the worst record related to accidents, injuries and fatalities. While the exact location of the hot spot is not obvious from the RTI response, a drive along the Old Madras road will show that there are two spots that stand out. One is at the KR Puram Bridge, where the Old Madras road meets the Outer Ring Road Benniganahalli Flyover. The second one is near the junction leading to ITPL, Mahadevapura.

Our attempt here is to address the traffic situation at the KR Puram Bridge.

We are hoping to take this to the Bangalore Traffic Police / BTRAC / BBMP to gain support and further implement it.

We also want to express sincere thanks to our new acquaintances from the Bangalore Traffic Police :  Inspector Niranjan and Inspector Mahesh Kanakagiri. They are now partners in our quest for safer roads!

Smoother Traffic at KRPuram bridge

Update :

The school where this initiative was taken is the Cauvery Global School (CBSE) and Cauvery Matriculation School, Trichy. The person behind this initiative – Chinnaraj Sundararaman – is the President of the School Governing Council.

Thank you for taking the initiative to convert the Pledge into something more meaningful to the students of your school. The younger generation is a greater hope for us, and if we are able to get them to understand the need for disciplined defensive driving, it will make a tremendous impact.

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Thank you, Sandhya Lovekar, for spreading the word via Facebook. This is her message

“An example of the power of social media when used well. I had posted a list of road safety rules written by my sister-in-law, Shubhangi Tambwekar, as part of VIKRAM, a road safety initiative of The Arundhati Foundation, established in memory of my niece.