ISS Facility Services distributed flowers to commuters along the stretch on the Outer Ring Road from Marathahalli to Mahadevpura on Tuesday.
The numerous fines imposed by the traffic police may not have registered in the minds of numerous Bangaloreans who continue to take a lethargic attitude towards road safety.
While imposing fines have failed to serve their purpose, employees of ISS Facility Services have taken to Gandhigiri — they distributed flowers to commuters along the stretch on the Outer Ring Road from Marathahalli to Mahadevpura on Tuesday.
Employees of the organisation distributed 750 roses to motorists.
“Considering that the first week of January is Road Safety Week, we decided to take up the issue,” said Prabhakar Shetty, head of HSE (Health, Safety and Environment).
Sixty-five employees of the company formed groups of five, which included a housekeeping staff, who cleaned seatbelts and windshields. They decided that since the penalty system did not work, perhaps praises would.
“We made sure to look that the driver or rider is following the rule,” Shetty said. “The response was much better when they saw the rose,” he joked.
On the road safety situation in Bangalore, he said, “While it is a common fact that road safety is not often the first concern of people when it comes to commuting, the lack of awareness and the absolute insensitivity to issues were astounding,” he said.
His colleague, Tanushree Bandyopadyay, added that during the course of the awareness drive, they came across many highly insensitive cases.
She said: “A young boy was riding with his mother riding pillion. He had no helmet on. We asked the mother to tell her son to wear the helmet. A pregnant woman was sitting in the back seat of a car. Neither she nor her driver was wearing the seatbelt.”
Incidentally, despite the rule, they found that not many people wore seatbelts. Nevertheless, all of them knew the safety aspects of wearing a seatbelt.
The volunteers tried to drive home the message by cleaning their seatbelt and urged them to wear it.
The volunteers’ experience also seemed to show that more often than not, if motorists follow safety precautions, it is out of fear of penalty than for their own safety.
“People wear helmets, but they don’t put the straps of the helmets,” said Pradeep, leader of one of the 12 teams distributing flowers and messages of road safety.
Tanushree said: “It is common for youngsters on bikes and even cycles, lost in their earphones, often shutting out every noise from outside. They often don’t realise there is a vehicle at the back and this leads to accidents.”
“We saw a woman who was driving without wearing her seatbelt. She had two phones resting on her lap. Don’t people realise that they are putting their own lives at risk!” Pradeep said.
The campaigners are not sure if people will remember the message and make a habit out of it. “We have a tendency to listen and then forget about it. It’s only when something touches them personally that they make an effort to change,” said Pradeep, recalling that a few people thanked them for the drive.
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