Road Safety session at LAM Research

July 5 : 2nd Session at LAM Research

This was in their brand new facility at the Fairway Business Park off the Inner Ring Road.  Over 150 employees attended this session.

I was pleasantly surprised when Vikas Chand mentioned that he had gone through the blog of the Foundation and was aware of our work.

This time, I incorporated two other videos into the talk

1. IIHS rear-seat unbelted passenger
2. Blind spots for buses – a video for 2-wheeler riders

These are very effective videos, and they help a lot in conveying the message.

I had some very interesting conversations after the session.

Ashish loves to go on long drives, but is especially conscious of the fatigue factor. His wife acts as the navigator. If either of them is tired, they stop. He also gave a very useful tip : Google maps marks accident-prone areas and cautions drivers to slow down. A yellow / light blue indicator on the map helps identify these areas.

One person raised a question on ethics : “if someone, or an animal, suddenly comes across the vehicle, should I save my life or of the other person / animal ?”  In that split second, I suppose it is instinct that takes over. Most likely, it will be a survival instinct. But its hard to call it a matter of ethics.

We talk of the Good Samaritan law – It allows people to help the victims of road accidents without any fear of harassment. Karnataka became the first state to introduce the Good Samartian bill in the state assembly. This evoked a positive response. Some people have lost their friends who did not get timely help.

There was a general observation that the process of procuring a driving license is very lax, and that it should be a lot more stringent. The MVA Amendment Bill 2017 has provisions for more transparent licensing, and more stringent penalty for violations, penalty for faulty road construction etc. Unfortunately, it is moving very slowly. It was passed in the Lok Sabha, but hasn’t yet made it to the Rajya Sabha. We hope that this session takes up the bill in earnest.

Another comment from a mother was on Underage driving. She is afraid that her teenage son will come under peer pressure and take the two wheeler on a ride. They keep the keys hidden from him.  In such situations, first of all, it has to be firm message to the child, letting him know that he will get his turn when he becomes an adult. It is important to also reach out to the parents of your child’s friends and caution them if the children are indulging in underage driving. It takes a degree of maturity to deal with problems on the road, and a child cannot be expected to have this maturity.

Ramya informed me the next day that several of the people have come forth and promised to wear helmets. That is very heartening!

Thanks LAM research for a wonderfully interactive session.  I hope to add some pictures from the session soon.

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20 April 2018

It looks like the word about the work done by The Arundhati Foundation is spreading through various people. I had a pleasant surprise one day in April when Ramya Jyothi from Lam Research reached out to us and requested us to conduct not one but 4 sessions for the organization, in each of its facilities.

I agreed to do the first session on April 20, and based on the feedback, we will conduct the further 3 sessions as well.

One tries to inject some humour into the topic because people can be more receptive to take in the message. I saw this clip of Farokh Engineer – the dashing wicketkeeper/bastman who played for India in the era where protective gear was limited – and decided to use a bit of it. Engineer had joked once “Cricketers started using the abdomen guard in 1868. The helmet came into play only in the 1970s. It took a 100 years for cricketers to recognize that the head is precious!”

I got an interesting perspective from one of the audience members. When discussing speed, he said “30 km/hour translates to about 30 feet/sec” Pointing across the room he said – “this is about the distance to the door there. Imagine having to stop in between the two points – to go from 30 km/hr to 0 in less than 1 second. Now you can understand how hard it is to stop when at higher speeds”.

Thank you Ramya for organizing the event, and Lam Research for giving us the opportunity. I will certainly cover the other sites as well.