80 to 90% road users (drivers and pedestrians) of intercity roads are the nearby residents. Only 10% users are outsiders.

This target population ,if educated over a specified period of time through different mediums to follow road safety rules, on the target road. May bring a visible difference.

A localised target awareness drive will show a visible difference than a generalised one.

Awareness period - 4 months

Sep 2014 - Dec 2014.

Observation period - 2 weeks

1st Jan 2015 – 15th Jan 2015.

Target Road :

Pokharan rd no 1.(a stretch of 1.2 km ,extending from Cadbury junction to Vartaknagar signal.)

1. Wearing of Seatbelt.

2. Wearing Helmet for Drivers & Pillion rider

3. Follow signals

4. No Honking unnecessarily

5. No Texting & Talking on mobile while driving

6. No Drunk Driving

7. Maintain Lane Discipline

School children and parents

Housing societies

Autorickshaw drivers

TMT bus drivers

2 wheelers drivers

Inculcate an attitude of

SELF AWARENESS

SELF DISCIPLINE

SELF PARTICIPATION

In the target population

Make it a people’s movement .

Public participation will show effective reduction in:

1. Noise pollution

2. Air pollution

3. Road rage

4. Road traffic accidents

Pre and Post Project Analysis of

1.Noise decibel

2.Air quality

3.Vehicular congestion

4.Observation made by Traffic Dept and common man

On 15th August 2014 likeminded citizens from various walks of life joined hands to form a group called S-MILES (Safety for Miles).

The team had members as varied as housewives, teachers, doctors, businessmen and architects.

The core members planned an awareness campaign catering to the varied target population

Best medium to spread the awareness

a) Educate children on road safety rules . Good habits inculcated in early age will make safer drivers for future.

b) Make them the Ambassadors of road safety.

Target road drains 3 schools:

Shrimati Sulochanadevi Singhania - 6500 children

Sanskar Public school -3000 children

Thirani school- 2500 children

1. Interactive presentationsPresentations were tailor-made to the age group addressed.

PRIMARY- animatedSECONDARY - motivational, in addition guidance on

cycling.COLLEGE - as students would soon be driving, briefing on

traffic signals included.

2. Distribution of Road safety pamphlets with pledges, for parents with counter slips of acknowledgment.

3. Stickers of SMILES logo for vehicles to show commitment to the movement .

4. Poster /slogan competitions based on road safety theme.

Open discussion with the Bus operators (drivers, female attendants, cleaners) and school parents was held.

Safety related aspects were highlighted.

Audio video presentation keeping in mind school bus drivers was presented.

Result:

Certain measures to be taken by bus operators and parents keeping children’s safety were chalked out.

Minutes of the same were handed over to school authorities

Account for 60% of the traffic on the city roads.

Unorganised sector hence difficult to address.

So a free eye checkup camp was organised for 2 months.

During the check up they were shown:

Audio video presentations made for them with emphasis on road safety.

Pledges taken and stickers distributed.

Response for the Eye check up event was poor. Hence, alternative awareness method was

decided . A stand-up comedy depicting road safety

issues, by popular TV artist was done. The programme was held on their annual day

24th Dec 2014 at Thane railway station.

550 drivers and conductors working in three shift, is a difficult audience to catch in one go.

Hence, a beautiful 6 minute audio video presentation pertaining to their life was run at regular intervals in their premises at Wagleestate.

The video conveys message about smiles movement ,hazards of drinking, road rage and addictions The aim is to motivate them to be responsible drivers.

a) Street plays and songs on Road safety were performed in societies during Navratricelebrations.

b) Inter-society poster competitions was held on the theme of road safety.

c) Door to door distribution of pamphlets by children.

d) Placards with basic do’s and don’t put for display on the exit gates of societies.

e) Children performed skits and sang road safety songs during Children’s Art Festival, held at Kalabhavan in November 2014.

Interactive lecture with road safety expert.

Showed common mistakes and habits developed by them and rectification methods.

Arranged for a simulator demonstration for safe driving in certain situations like oil spill on road.

“Smilesgiri” on the lines of Gandhigiri was created.

Initial were “ teasers” – motivating general population to think about the wrong things happening on road.

This was followed by right habits on roads named as Smilesgiri .

Raymond Compound wall painting situated on the target road , on the theme, “Smilesgiri “was conducted on 14/12/14 .Over 450 citizens participated in this event .Volunteers smilingly motivated common man

to follow rules ,depicting the need of “smiliesgiri” in everyones life.

Constables manning Pokhran rd 1 were given free eye and ear check at Senses Eye & ENT Hospital.

Safety goggles and ear plugs were distributed as preventive measures from air and noise pollution .

They were also provided with cool drinking water during the hot month of October.

For traffic to be disciplined infrastructure of road and pavement has to be good .Hence “Road engineering” was done. Prof. Vedagiri from Civil Department of IIT

Powai , along with his students ,visited the said road and in 15 days gave a detailed 62 pages report .

The report gave recommendations for making target road a model road.

Involves 3 E’s

Education

Engineering

Enforcement

This “E” was done by citizens group .

Team Smiles, group put in 4 months of hard work and time to create awareness in the target population.

Money, resources and ideas were purely developed within the group.

The project aimed to keep it as a citizens movement and therefore motivated the common man to be the change they want to see on the roads.

Prof. Vedagiri and Civil Dept from IIT Powai,Mumbai guided us for this.

Model Road suggestions were shared with theconcerned departments.

Depts of Thane Municipal Corporation

MSEB

Traffic Dept

PWD

Electrical

Solid Waste

Encroachment

Advertisement

TMT Bus Dept

Pollution

Garden

They were as follows:

1.Zebra crossings near schools and junctions.

2.Correct openings and closures of road punctures.

3.Speed breakers, road lane markings

4.Road levelling

5.Repair and install barricades on the Footpath

6. Appropriate Road Signage

Shifting of TMT bus stop 100 meters from junctions.

Work to date is pending ,reply received says that State transport dept needs to be informed .

MSEB electrical towers encroaching on footpaths may prove hazardous & needs to be handled appropriately

Towers force school children and pedestrians to walk on roads

Also they attract nuisance value in terms of cleanliness

MSEB Department replied that if towers needs to be shifted ,TMC has to generate funds.

TMC ,replied saying that it will be considered once the road gets widened ,which may happen in near future.

Hence no further action was taken.

Repair and maintainance of appropriate lights &poles needs to be done

LED light system was suggested.

Work still to be done

Divider Beautification work done

But maintenance is lacking

1. Permissions and approvals for changes on the road were requested .

2.Request for additional traffic constables during school hours was done.

3. For every awareness drive traffic department physically accompanied the team

Noise Decibel levels recorded

Average -75 to 80 db(peak hours )morning 10:00 amevening 7:30pm

Courtesy :Pollution Control DeptTMC

School“Changes made near the main gate has considerably reduced our burden of keeping the kids safe while crossing roads near school.”

Mr Sawant9664606061

School Security Chief

“Smiles movement has done a fantastic job outside the school.The posters are well placed & attractive, no one can ignore it.”

Mrs Leena9833401467

Parent 6th standard child

“Millions die every year due to road accidents , inspite of traffic rules . The refreshing effort of Smiles in spreading traffic safety awareness to 2/4 wheeler drivers & also involving & educating children in this regard is note worthy. This ongoing focus on relearning for ones own benefit will go long way in safety of all road users including vulnerable pedestrians .Cheers for SMILES…keep up the good job.”

Mrs Bhavana Jethwani9769560707

“Our Pokharan rd 1 has become so neat ,clean &beautiful these days .The Smilesgiri posters attract attention of all and it has created lot of buzz among the people who use this road since many years .Being near the big school it leaves lasting impact on next generation.”

Mrs Anjali Shankaran

9819198275

citizen

“The awareness session conducted with school bus drivers by smiles team was very helpful.The one point contact made by team smiles through school children to their parents will create large scale awareness.Also the wall painting done depicting good road habits is very informative”

Mr Palve8108567171Traffic InchargeVartak nagar

“Our dept did our work,but there is no improvement in public behaviour in traffic rules point of view .Traffic dept is not doing anything else additional even though there is traffic safety week.

This means though roads in good conditions rules and regulations and discipline should be forcefully and strictly implemented.”

Mr Kishore Ghole

9967639877

TMC Engineer

A movement of the people for the betterment of road safety proved that if the people and government decide to implement & follow rules & laws along with enforcement then it could bring the desired change & make an ideal & safer city.

Dr Kamal Ghanshamnani

ENT Surgeon

9820198938

Based on observations made during the project these are the suggestions:

Road engineering needs to have more holistic approach, involvment of all departments and citizens group should be mandatory.

To consider the presence of schools, hospitals, malls and establishments having large footfalls.

This is for the safety, security & parking.

3. Clean, safe, cheap & punctual Public

transport alternatives has to be done on urgent basis.

4. Roads to school should have cycling tracks.

This encourages healthier lifestyles and lesser pollution.

5. Pay & park areas need to be created.

6. Strict enforcement.

7. Government officials and people in power should set examples for common man by themselves abiding the traffic rules.

Extensive, committed ,awareness drive done collectively by all sections of society

Citizens

Municipal corporation

Traffic

Corporators

Schools & Colleges

Residential societies

Business Establishments

Print, Electronic media

Can contribute in making the project 100% success.

1.Team Smiles achieved 100% success in evoking sense of road safety habits in

Own team members (45 citizens)

Also it spread to People closely associated with them

Their relatives,friends,children & staff.

2. 100% success in interacting and sensitizing ,

road safety rules to 10,000 school children for themselves and their elders was achieved.

3. Continuous awareness initiatives are more fruitful than short term projects.

4. Target based ,localised projects are better. 5. Strict law enforcement, with fear of penalty, is essential in getting discipline on roads.

Team smiles believes that if all the above points come together in harmony then the

3 S’s of

Self awareness

Self discipline

Self participation

By citizens in making their nation proud is achievable.

Thane Municipal Corporation

Special thanks to

Dy commissioner(zone II)

Mr Sanjay Herwade

Asst commissioner (Vartak Nagar)

Mrs Chhaya Mankar

Pollution control

Mrs Manisha Pradhan

City engineer (Vartak Nagar)

Mr Ghole

Traffic Department

Special ThanksJt Commissioner of Police

Mr Laxminarayan

Traffic Unit (Vartak Nagar)

Mr Palve

Shrimati Sulochanadevi Singhania school

Thirani Secondary and Primary school

Sanskaar school

IIT Powai Civil deptProf Vedagiri and Team

Road safety expertMr Amol Tope

Autorickshaw associationMr Bhosale

Vasan Eye CareMr Ganesh

Hoardings Mr. Rakesh

Mr Pratap Sarnaik MLA

Mr Parisha Sarnaik Corporator

Vihaan Honda - Mr Kishore Sajwani

Lab India - Mr Shriram Bhalerao

Raymond Ltd - Mr Kandewal

Satkar Hotel – Mr Shivram Shetty

Smiles team wishes to set this pilot project as a benchmark for initiatives to be taken up by citizens to make a change in the country.

Jai Hind !!