BENGALURU: Multinational firm 3M plans to create 10 lakh Young Change Agents for Road Safety (Y-CARS) as part of its CSR initiatives in collaboration with the NGO Concern for Road and Pedestrian Safety (CoRPS), by conducting online workshops for schools to create Safe School Zones.
The initiative, which took off in Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune and Chennai, aims to create at least 30,000 Y-CARS in the city by the end of the quarter. Once they reach 100 schools, the plan is to take it to the State Government to make it a full-fledged programme.
CoRPS Program Director Chetan Umapathy said, “It has been implemented in four schools of Bengaluru and 15 more are on board. It has been successful and children are motivated. We have witnessed great changes outside their school zone.”
Y-CARS entails 3-tier workshops delivered through the existing time-table. It requires 3-4-hour engagement with students over 3-4 days. The programme leads to students recognising roads as a shared social space, empathising with other road users and developing skills to spot hazards and defending themselves against them. After the workshops, children, mainly from Classes 8-10, are taken on a road audit programme where they make note of the changes necessary to ensure a safe school zone layout.
“Once the audit is done, we will design solutions like demarcation using signage, road markings, providing designated areas for walking and waiting, multi-utility zones, pick-up and drop-off areas, vibrant pedestrian crossing, no honking zone, school zone boards etc. These will then, with the help of 3M, be set up outside the schools,” he said.