29 Jan 2016 : A shudder ran through my body when I read the newspaper today morning. The news about the life of a young, bright, talented girl riding pillion being snuffed out was difficult to read. My heart goes out to her parents and their grief.  The young rider will forever bear the cross of this accident.

This has once again brought to the fore the need to reiterate and reinforce defensive driving practices.

Some points noted from the newspaper articles ( The Hindu, and The Times of India ) :

• Both the girls wore helmets. However, the news says that the girl who rode pillion did not have the helmet firmly strapped.
• This was the usual route for the rider and the pillion. They were familiar with the route. Yet, the rider chose to turn from the left hand side of the road, onto the right. This was at a traffic signal.  The 2-wheeler was hit by a milk-van. I will not go into any further details.

The Arundhati Foundation strongly advocates Defensive Driving Practices :

• Protect Yourself First : Wear your helmet. Ensure that it is the right fit, and strap it firmly.
• Be Aware of Blind Spots. 2-wheeler riders often believe that they are ‘visible’ to the other drivers, and the traffic will adapt to their movement on the roads.  Be familiar with not just your own blind spots, but also be aware of the blind spots of drivers of other vehicles.
• Slow Down. Hurried decisions can be devastating on the road.  Do not jump signals.  Slow down and stop when light changes from green to yellow.
• Pay Attention, Avoid Distraction.  In particular, avoid cellphones. Keep Eyes on the Road, Hands on the Wheel and Mind on the Traffic. The passenger should not distract the driver either.
• Mind the Gap, not Find the Gap. Trying to squeeze through gaps on a 2-wheeler can be dangerous. Avoid turning in front of moving vehicles.

At least 2 to 3 of the above principles stand out in the context of today’s news. I am sharing a couple of pics that we use in our sessions to spread the message on road safety and defensive driving. Let’s develop a safety mindset and aim to prevent accidents.

Drive Safely : It’s not what you drive that matters, but that you continue to drive. Make it a habit to drive defensively.

Aru’s Grandfather – Mr A. S. Tambwekar – created a nice acronym for Road Safety.
In this, he summarizes all the key messages that we include in our sessions.

Jan 15

During the Road Safety week, very aptly, Sasken invited us to conduct this session on Road Safety Awareness.
Thanks to Hari Iyer, Swami Krishnan, and Vidhya C who made this happen!

Hope to spread the message further!

Some more pics here

Jan 15
Mr Sundararaman Chinnaraj, a supporter of The Arundhati Foundation, gave the foundation a wonderful New Year gift.
We are overwhelmed at what he and his school has done.
We share this letter with pride with ALL the world.
Many thanks Mr Chinnaraj for this remarkable gesture.
You have proved that ‘ If there is a will, there is A way’
Changes can come in quietly and make an impact.
This is in line with the ideologies of the foundation.
I quote Mr Chinnaraj..
Happy New Year and Happy Sankaranthi to you. Though It has been a while since I wrote to you , I have been following your work on your website as well as your Facebook page. Taking inspiration from you , our school has given helmets for children who come to school by bicycle. I’ve attached a picture for your reference.This is definitely a first in our state. Thank you for inspiring us.
Warm regards
Sundararaman Chinnaraj
President
Cauvery Matriculation School
Cauvery Global School
Trichy.

It is nice to know that The Arundhati Foundation’s work is being recognized. It featured in an article by The Economic Times (Bangalore) on Jan 11, 2015.

We consider this a sign from our child who guides us.
People say we are courageous. We say, we do not have a choice. Given a choice, we would never have let her go. Now, either we can just mourn or we can use the lessons we have learnt to try and make efforts to see that no other parents have to live this horror.
My child is special, my child is giving and this foundation is all about her.
We merely follow the path she shows us.
To all our well-wishers: It is your love and support that has got us this far.
Please continue to support us to make Indian Roads Safer.

Here is the e-link to the article

During our young days, growing up with a fondness for music, I loved Ghulam Ali’s gazal
“Hungaama hai kyon barapa? Thodi si joh pi li hai! Daaka toh nahi daala, chori toh nahi ki hai!”
It is a lovely gazal , however, people seem to live this gazal on the road these days. It would have been perfectly fine for them to drink, if they DID NOT drive after drinking. Accidents are a matter of irresponsible behavior and care a damn attitude on most part of the person behind the wheel. The effect of alcohol is such that judgement is completely inhibited. Also, we all optimistically underestimate the risk. Individuals do not believe they are dangerous on the roads and believe others are a danger on the roads.

Nobody respects the law and life in our country is cheap unless a celebrity or politician is killed.The tweeterati have tweeted enough about the recent acquittal of a celebrity for drunk driving. If we take the official statistics for drunken driving published by The Hindu, cases have increased from 38,665 in 2009 to 55,138 in 2014. As of 1/11/2015 40,000/- drunk driving cases were booked. This is taking about the official statistics. The same newspaper has reported that over eight thousand people have been killed in drunk driving over the past five years. These should be treated as “murders” and not accidents.

Take the case of Mr Karthik Somaiah, manager in a private firm who in 2009 ran over five people at Indiranagar while returning home after a party. This according to the police was NOT Karthicks first offence. On January 26 1998 ,a 45 year old gentleman came under the wheels of a two wheeler of Mr Karthik on Residency road. Police however could only trace the FIR and according to the newspaper sources ( The TIMES Of India, Bangalore, Friday jan 30th 2009) , No other documents could be traced.

A few days back : Oct 31, on Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, a person with blood alcohol content over 17 times allowed limit, rammed into 2 people coming out of a midnight mass. The victims had no time to react, such was the speed of the car which came out of the blue.Highest number of accidents due to drunk driving are reported on Saturdays.

A sizable chunk of drunk driving cases are repeat offenders. As per The Hindu, November 1st 2015, 14,280. A sizable number indeed! What does this tell us about the drivers? Such people should be strictly off the roads. Whether it is a poor truck driver or a rich and famous celebrity.
We, at The Arundhati Foundation are glad about the aggressive launch of a program against drunk driving by the Bangalore Traffic Police ( BTP ). Given the season of revelry coming up at the end of the year, it is a timely step taken by the BTP.

A Big Thank You! to the BTP, and Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Saleem for taking drunk driving cases seriously, and creating this campaign to increase awareness and deter violations. To create awareness the team flagged of a mangled car on a truck, which was driven by a man in inebriated condition with a message ‘I was driven by a drunk’. Special pamphlets have been printed, and will be distributed.

The campaign was launched on 12 Dec at the Opera Junction on Brigade Road, and will run through the rest of December. I attended the launch, and signed my name on the Pledge board.

BTP has also urged people to take responsibility for others in their group who may drive under the influence of alcohol. The message is “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk“. In matters of drunk driving, it is best not to take the chance. Not only for the benefit of the person who is drunk, but also for the safety of others on the road. Have a designated driver, a buddy who will pick you up, or use a cab. There are plenty of options available now – use them!

Stay Alive and Help Stay Alive; Don’t Drink And Drive!

More pictures here

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.