Bhubaneswar faces dire conditions with regards to road safety. Mass awareness campaigns were conducted throughout the city to tackle the different aspects of this issue.
The ideas
During the course of this project, the team realised that their city faces an ironical situation. 98% of traffic violations are committed by the literate, while the illiterate majority does not know road safety rules. The priority of this project was therefore to alert the majority about these rules.
They decided to do this by first approaching the underprivileged and teaching them about road safety, and then doing the same to those who committed the violations.
Children of grade 2‒5 are new to the road. Thus they resolved to teach children from their school how to cross roads, walk on them and ride their bicycles safely.
The team decided to interact with students of their own age, as they are the ones who usually drive rashly. They decided to have an interactive session with students of their own age at a local school to spread awareness about the issue.
As road safety is a topic that most people are negligent about, the team members, along with a crew of dancers, decided to carry out a flash mob at a local mall.
Mass awareness campaigns, which included spreading the cause through images on the streets and buses, composing songs and other publicity on FM radio and social networking sites.
The initiatives
School
They had an interactive session with junior students and taught them some basic traffic rules. These students used posters and catchy slogans to spread awareness. Senior students organised rallies on some of the busiest streets in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
MPS
An interactive session with 300 students from a city school was held. A variety of activities like a quiz, a short play, and a video presentation were a part of this session.
The youngsters responded and participated enthusiastically and also promised to follow all the rules.
Slums
They included the less privileged in their awareness programme. These children were taught about the basics of road safety, and they organised a rally where they urged the violators to follow the rules.
The same children took a step further and told the adults in their locality about all that they had learned in the sessions.
Flash Mob
The flash mob is one of the highlights of their programme. Dance is one of the easiest ways to express emotions. Thus the concept of road safety was infused with dance to attract attention. It took place in a popular city mall.
Over 400 people watched and appreciated the show. This was an innovative and attractive method of spreading awareness.
They collaborated with a leading radio station 92.7 BIG Fm to promote their cause. They were interviewed about their various efforts. Publicity was prepared in both English and the local language, to reach out to a larger audience. This was done to spread awareness about road safety.
