Safer roads, safer India

It all started with the 'Safer Roads, Safer India' campaign and their competition under the aegis of the Youth Service America, an NGO, and Underwriter's Laboratories, a safety testing company. With road safety being India's biggest public health issue, and the youth being the largest category of victims, they believed that it would be ideal to ask the youth to help resolve this concern. “Yes; I did want to Make a Difference.” Rishabraj Jalota volunteered to be the spokesperson for the core team. Adam Meziti took over the resource allocation. Mokssh Surve was the creative force. Shivam Shorewala and Sehaj Chawla were the app developers for the project. We also stood along our school gate and said a big thank you with a rose to all the drivers wearing seat belts. The school bus drivers were encouraged to follow rules as well. The 7A and 7B students accompanied our team to the busiest road junctions at Kurla. Holding road safety slogan placards, they stopped two wheeler riders not wearing helmets and gave them a good dressing down. They happily distributed roses to those following all road safety rules and received applause from various people for their efforts.

A quiz in each IGCSE grade was an interesting exercise to test their knowledge of road signs and safety rules. We set up a stall at the CAS fete and along with spreading the message of road safety, we also made a decent addition of funds to our budget. Next, we visited schools to garner more support for the cause. All in all, the past 6 months have been an incredible journey. But I still have miles to go. Road safety will remain my cause and in the future I will continue to work independently and try to make a difference. So please stay safe on the roads!!

- Joshua Singh