Techies chip in to find a way out of mess

Techies chip in to find a way out of mess
To Hold Traffic Awareness Week From Monday
A T Subrahmanya | TNN

Bangalore: Techies are often termed geeks fit only for coding computers. But they will now hit the road to spread some ‘gyan’ on traffic awareness in Silicon City.
A group of 15 techies from around 10 companies in the Embassy Golf Links complex, a software park on the Koramangala Inner Ring Road, is organizing a traffic awareness week from June 16. The programme is in association with the Bangalore traffic police.
The software engineers plan to distribute CDs, pamphlets and other material regarding traffic violations on their campus. They will also put up banners and hoardings pledging support for the cause, all along the road.
The campaign will look at what we can do for Bangalore’s traffic problems and there will be presentations on traffic violations along with video clippings of these violations obtained from the traffic department. This group, called People for a Cause, will educate the public about traffic etiquette, lane discipline, stopping at signals, not using cell phones while driving, footpath driving and zig-zag driving.
IBM employee and group member Neeraj Sharma said: “The whole idea is to do our bit to curb the traffic menace instead of just sitting and cribbing about it. We will not blame anybody for the present infrastructure problem and we just want people to follow these traffic rules and regulations.’’
All the companies in the EGL complex have agreed to keep pamphlets and other material near lifts, lobbies and cafeterias. Neeraj says: “We will send e-mails on this issue and screen some video clips during lunch hours which highlight the various aspects of safe driving. We have already obtained permission from the companies.’’ The volunteers will also stand at various junctions on the Inner Ring Road with traffic police to educate offenders.
The techies are bearing the initiative’s cost, which is more than Rs 25,000. They hope to get the message across to many of the 20,000 techies working for companies like IBM, Sasken, Dell, Yahoo, Netapp and Fidelity in the EGL complex.
The traffic cops are obviously pleased with this plan. Seemanth Kumar Singh, DCP, traffic (east), told TOI that this is a voluntary move. “We will deploy personnel on the road to enforce traffic rules and regulations along with volunteers,” he said. He warned that the police will come down heavily on law breakers even after the campaign. If successful, this initiative will be replicated at other bottlenecks at ITPL and Electronic City, Singh added.
RULES TO REMEMBER
Maintain lane discipline Stop at red lights Don’t use cell phones while driving Avoid footpath driving Avoid zig-zag driving