Road safety tops the list of campaigns conducted by Azhagar Senthil, social activist and founder of Awareness Creating on Public Rights (ACPR), a non-governmental organisation.
He is beginning his road safety campaign in Anna Nagar, and based on how successful it is, he will decide on taking it to other localities.
To reduce the emergency response time in the event of an accident, ACPR will appoint residents of Anna Nagar as volunteers in their respective neighbourhoods. These resident-volunteers will attend to the essential things to be done immediately after an accident, especially in the night hours, and be around until the arrival of an ambulance or the police.
“Once the resident-volunteers join the emergency response team, they will be given a four-day training and provided with a medical kit. Additionally, they will be requested to download an app, which is being developed by another NGO. In the event of an accident, volunteers will be notified through the app, which is in the testing stage and expected to be launched in February,” explains Senthil.
However, as residents’ response to the initiative is lukewarm, there is trouble getting it off the ground, he adds. “We approached various residents’ welfare associations, women’s associations and individuals, but we are yet to receive any strong commitment from any of them. If one individual cannot rescue an accident victim, nobody will be able to rescue the individual.”
As a incentive, volunteers doing exemplary work will be honoured at a meeting, held once in every three months.
Traffic marshals
ACPR has identified 13 zones in Anna Nagar, where traffic marshals will play a role in regulating traffic, especially in school zones.
“Instead of working professionals, we are recruiting college students as part-time volunteers. The stipend we give the students, especially those in need, will bankroll their education. We are deploying 48 marshals, who will be recruited following an interview. They can work during one of the two shifts — 7.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.,” says Senthil.
Human factor
To make the campaign human-centred, Senthil and his team are visiting the accident victims and documenting their life before and after the incident through videos and images. “These will be presented to the autorickshaw and bus drivers to show them what negligent driving can do to a family,” he says.
The drivers will also be given a ‘lifesaver’ badge, and residents will be given pledge cards for them to vow that they will obey traffic rules.
Quiz competitions
Across Chennai, the team is conducting quiz competitions on road safety for school students. Each school will nominate three students from class 9 to 12; and there will be one quiz for every five schools. “We are approaching the schools through the Regional Transport Office. We have distributed 10,000 road safety books and 500 pamphlets to the Joint Commissioner of Police — Traffic, who will in turn distribute these to schools in each police jurisdiction.
“We have completed five schools so far. Out of 500 schools that we are targeting, 12 will make it to the semi-finals. The winner will be named the traffic star,” says Senthil.
To volunteer or participate in the quiz competition, call 9092800968 or write to acprcontactdesk@gmail.com.
