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I always wanted to do something on Bangalore Autos. Traffic awareness is a very good idea. My biggest complain about autos is the noise and air pollution (besides other obviouos ones).

Please let me know how I can get involved. Here is my dream:
Auto customers should get air and noise pollution free ride and professional treatment, at the same time the drivers get a professional treatment. In short: get the damn silencer working, cover the 'em on both sides and treat 'em fair.

Where can I find details on autorikshaw regulations issued by dept of transport? Some day an entrepreneur will nail the problem like an young entrepreneur has done in Bihar:http://coolbihari.blogspot.com/2007/02/cycle-rickshaw-project-samman.html

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Hi! Great initiative.

I suggest you browse  www.driving-india.blogspot.com

You can have a look at the 17 driver education videos available here + a FAQ that goes with it.

I am based in UK but you may arrange to a get a DVD with all 17 videos from a group working towards improving road safety in Pune. I will pass on more details if you wish, let me know. The DVD is sent out on a not-for-profit basis.

In Pune the DVD has been played in mute and used to train drivers of IT companies, including Wipro. An NGO in Punjab has picked up 40 DVDs (2 for each district). Recently an RTA officer has arranged to show the DVD in waiting room of the RTO in Hazira (what a unique but simple way forward). Pune bus transport drivers are also to be trained using the DVD (17 minutes out of 60 are translated to Marathi).

Good luck with your project.

ASJ

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I would like to pitch in. Please let me know how i can join. 

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This link will provide all details.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcmq89nq_11gkghnr9n

If any one has difficulties, please do get in touch with me and I will do all I can to resolve the issue.

Please do look up the FAQ that goes with the DVD as it looks at number of myths like - Western roads are more disciplined because they have less population, less cars, these rules do not apply to India, these videos apply only to cars and not two wheelers.....all wrong dogmatic beliefs which need to be challenged by one and all.

Anyone dealaing with RTA/RTO - there is also a 170 question interactive road safety quiz designed with the idea that we start mandatory driving theory test. The test needs to be downloaded separately and works off-line.

ASJ

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SB,
Hi! The videos were filmed over 6 months or so. I spent more time planning than implementing (70:30 split), otherway round would have taken much longer. Time was biggest resource, followed by resolve to overcome doubts in my head shared by people around me - that this will get us (Indians) no where. The videos needed going to different locations on multiple occasions at times to get the right amount of footage. Majority work was done on weekends for lack of time and reduced road users - pedestrians can cut of vital bits of what seems to be a nice clip (very frustrating, but I learnt to live with it). I have about 5 hours footage which needed to be edited down to 1 hour. Animations was a challenge and eventually I used frame by frame method (create frame after frame with subtle change in each and render it at 25 frames a sec as a AVI file). Next came audio commentry which replaced road noise. The DVD came up as a demand from people and now is a semi-professional job with a menu.

There are reasons for filiming in London, UK -

1. Drive on left like us
2. Rules are exactly same (true with most countries signed up to international conventions)
3. The videos are real-time, non-simulated and show how an average driver gets it right (function of training).
4. I did not film in India even when I was there during 06-07 because we already know through daily experience the chaos on our roads. The philosophy behind the project was influenced by my career choice - as a psychiatrist I would get people to think differently by introducing alternative role models to something they are habitually using - hence almost all of the 1 hour is spent show casing  ''the correct way'' rather than focus on the ''wrong way'' (we have hundreds if not thousands of videos mocking Indian driving on youtube). I had tried being critical and cynical of our situation, it did not work and had to do what I do best in professional life.

Making more videos is worth a shot. The objective needs to be clear (you will not get many places in India with drivers doing the right thing, unless you simulate - this introduces artificiality, while non-simulated videos introduce an argument that when another human can follow rules, we can too).

I am planning more filming but there are some things I can't do which Praja members can do. Interviews with people you mention above is a nice idea (need to work on themes of messages). Other idea, which I personally was not keen on, but have always said people may work on if they wish to is - filming chaos on our roads which is the very opposite of the themes of the different videos and do workshops where one can demonstrate the difference between disciplined V indisciplined traffic.

We thus far have significantly lower number of vehicles in our cities but are in an eternal state of chaos. The reason why we never do more than 10kph on some roads is to do with the complete lack of insight about ROW rules at junctions without signals - how to merge with or leave a main road  wrt a side lane - no one has a clue - everyone is slowly inching around each other (some junctions have too much traffic and are without signals). Just educating people in this regard can make a massive difference, add a spice of Gandhigiri and we may double our speeds.

That is the story behind the story of videos.

But more the merrier.

ASJ

PS: I had no previous experience of using a handycam or video editing (certainly not when it came to animation) - when I can, any one can.

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