Once upon a February night, Balakrishnan lay dying in a pool of blood on B.B. Road in Perambur after a hit-and-run incident involving an unidentified car. It was past 2 a.m. and the road was deserted.
He survived because of an autorickshaw driver, L.Venkatesan, who admitted him to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Mr.Venkatesan then went all the way to Tiruvottiyur to inform the victim's family and drop them off at the hospital. Having been by the side of a dozen other road accident victims in their hour of need, he says: “I do it in the hope that someone will come to my rescue on the day I lay unconscious on the road”.
Many of the 55,000-odd autorickshaw drivers in the city are associated more with fleecing passengers than helping them. But there are a few good men who often go unrecognised.
Mr.Venkatesan says that whenever he admits a road accident victim in a hospital, the first question the doctor asks is: “Did you run over him?” Autorickshaw drivers in the city have such a horrible reputation among the public, he says.
Last week, Mr.Venkatesan returned a bag containing Rs.1.5 lakh to a lady who left it behind in his autorickshaw. She bought him fruit juice and gave him Rs.300. Meanwhile, formal systems to encourage good behaviour among autorickshaw drivers remain unutilised.
For example, anyone who admits a road accident victim to a hospital is eligible for a payment of Rs.100 from the local traffic police. “Most autorickshaw drivers do not know about it,” says Ravi Damodaran of the Citizens for Safe Roads (CSR) Campaign.
Autorickshaw drivers such as B.Murali, who has helped a few burn victims, say that they still see their profession as a public service. “The only help that I can offer a victim is to transport them to the hospital. I cannot give any money. I do what I can,” he says.
Solutions
The trade has long ceased to be a public service, says Mr. Venkatesan. “Even tea stall workers and rickshawallahs have started operating the three-wheelers on a rent basis. Many of them pay an autorickshaw driver Rs.500 to learn the basics in a week and they do fleece passengers. The lack of a proper training programme for autorickshaw drivers is a big failing,” he adds.
Insisting that drivers who have exhibited better behaviour must be branded so that passengers can clearly identify them, J. Seshasayanam, general secretary of the Madras Metro Auto Drivers' Association, says that a green sticker mechanism was tried during the previous AIADMK regime. “But the political and bureaucratic nexus made it fail. Even today, some traffic policemen own autorickshaws. Once the fare structure is revised, drivers willing to use the fare meter must be identified using a different colour.”
