Redress for your road problems is here

Redress for your road problems is here
The Times of India

Bangalore: Problems you and I face on the road — like a traffic police misbehaving or an autorickshaw driver overcharging a passenger — will have an ear.

The traffic department plans to set up a helpdesk so that every road-grievance can be registered either through email or SMS.

“Even problems on the road like a signal not functioning, unavailability of autorickshaws, etc. can be sent to us. We are working on the back-end for the system so that complaints can be accepted through all forms — letter, email, SMS, fax,’’ said additional commissioner of police (traffic) M N Reddi.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Traffic Pointers initiative Reddi added: “Unlike emergency services numbers like 100 or 103, this helpdesk will register problems faced every day on the road that were otherwise not being heard. We are developing a system so that the police will be able to respond to the complainant and give a feedback about the case.’’

Giving no commitment about the date when the system would come into effect, Reddi added: “once the round-the-clock technology is in place, we will have to appoint and train people to handle the system. The idea is to be as close to people as possible.’’

Commenting about prepaid auto stands, he said that the traffic police plans to open a lot more such stands.

“Eventually, the autorickshaw drivers will have to realise that they cannot avoid some road because the prepaid stands have been set up, because we will have them on all important roads. There is a need for more prepaid stands at market places, near hospitals, railway station and other public place that have heavy inflow and outflow of populace.

With the road safety week on, Reddi stated that community participation in averting accidents and following road discipline was essential.

Former BATF member Kalpana Kar stated that corporates must put in place systems to ensure safety of their employees.

Ness Technologies gave away free helmets to 1,500 employees of the company and started an Intranet blog for their employees that speaks about the dos and don’ts of driving/riding, defensive approach on the roads et al. Soon the company plans to start a forum where other corporates would be roped in for road safety programmes