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Technology | Chennai techie nails traffic violators in act, puts brakes on accidents -Christin Mathew Philip

Chennai techie nails traffic violators in act, puts brakes on accidents -Christin Mathew Philip

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published Published on Apr 18, 2015   modified Modified on Apr 18, 2015
-The Times of India

CHENNAI: The city records more road accidents than any other metropolis in the country — 9,705 accidents left 1,247 people dead and 8,700 injured in 2013 — and police officers, experts and regular road users all agree that the proclivity of Chennai's motorists to blatantly disregard traffic rules is to blame more than anything else.

The situation on the streets is so bad that commuters are usually at first outraged, then prone to road rage and, later, turn resigned to what irredeemable circumstances. But not 25-year-old software engineer R Saiyasodharan.

The techie has for the past two years been doing what the police have failed to: nail traffic violators by filming them in flagrante delicto on his cellphone. He has handed over to the traffic police more than 200 videos of traffic violations.

Saiyasodharan captures images of traffic violations with the registration numbers of the offenders' vehicles, the date and place, and passes on this information to traffic police officers. Not surprisingly, perhaps, a large number of his videos feature gross violations of the rules by MTC bus drivers.

"The force should give every traffic policeman an internet-connected cellphone with a camera or net-enabled cameras," he said on Friday while recording traffic violations at Saidapet. "The police control room will then be able to upload details of violators and their offences on a central server."

But enforcement has also suffered because the problem appears to be out of hand, Saiyasodharan said, pointing to traffic policemen turning a blind eye to violations in many instances. "Every road and junction should have adequate security cameras," he said.

Saiyasodharan said a majority of violations involves motorists running red lights. "A large number of these offences lead to accidents," he said. "Many people ride without helmets and younger motorcyclists tend to ride rashly, trying to pull off dangerous stunts on busy roads, speeding, riding down the wrong side of one-way stretches and on footpaths.

Fellow-activists Ganesh Janarthanam and Arun Prasad have complemented the young crusader's endeavours by helping him analyse footage of violations and prepare complaints to the traffic police.

They upload most of the videos and images on www.youtube.com/user/GrayfaceofIndia and send the URL link to each video to the traffic police, Saiyasodharan said, but police officers have not contacted them or acknowledged their efforts so far.

"The only way to reduce accidents is to strictly enforce the rules," he said. "It's unfair to only blame the traffic police for the rising number of accidents. Road users need a drastic change of mentality."

"Our efforts may not result in a sudden improvement in motorist behaviour, but a sustained endeavour by more people in the city will bring about change some day," he said.

Mail grayfaceofindia@gmail.com to join the team, take videos, identify violations and but the brakes on accidents in Chennai.
 

The Times of India, 18 April, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Chennai-techie-nails-traffic-violators-in-act-puts-brakes-on-accidents/articleshow/46964820.cms


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