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IT firms drive home safety tips

Bangalore’s tech companies have woken up to the daredevilry of their staff-transport drivers, who are responsible for a sharp rise in road accidents.

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BANGALORE: Bangalore’s famed tech companies have at last woken up to the daredevilry of their staff-transport drivers, who are responsible for a sharp rise in road accidents. The companies have begun training the drivers to appreciate road sense and traffic rules.

About 25,000 taxis hired by IT companies in Bangalore transport about 2.5 lakh techies every day between homes and offices, and most of the drivers have no experience, let alone a licence. The company cabs accounted for nearly 1,000 of the 6,800 accidents that took place in the city in 2006.

Companies are now hiring traffic experts to teach drivers not only how to drive safely and behave properly but also how to de-stress. Firms such as Infosys, Wipro, Hewlett Packard, Mphasis, Seaton India and Kshema Technologies have hired the Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers (TEST), an organisation specialising in designing safety drills, to coach their cabbies.

TEST has trained more than 4,000 drivers so far.

“Jumping traffic signals, racing with other taxis, and irresponsible behaviour are the common problems that need to be addressed among the drivers,” said MN Sreehari, chairman and founder of the TEST.

“Most cabs ply at night and, hence, break traffic rules, causing accidents,” said Rama Subba, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic-West). Such cases are not even registered since the traffic police are understaffed during nights.

The training, which stretches to a year, includes etiquette, time management, awareness of public security and traffic rules, after-accident trauma care and defensive driving. The intensive training will culminate in a test for the drivers. “Driving in the night disturbs their biological clock leading to stress,” Sreehari said, adding: “Relieving their stress is the first step towards improving their behaviour.”

That means asking the drivers to take early morning walks, and meditation and to generally make them responsible for their passenger’s safety.

SRS Travels, which operates taxis for Infosys, Wipro, IBM, and Accenture, engages a traffic expert to hold refresher courses for drivers every six months. M N Acharya, the firm’s general manager, admits that the drivers are at fault “to a certain extent” but also blames bad roads and traffic congestion for the large number of accidents.

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