Understanding the gravity of the accident situation on Indian Roads & its Urgency to arrest Alarming Road Deaths, NGO Drive Smart Drive safe came up with a unique campaign 1Crore Steps for Safer Roads’ where It appealed to Citizens of India to Walk #1Croresteps for the awareness & National Priority to Safer Indian Roads and support the cause of Road safety. The campaign aimed to create, increase & infuse Pedestrian safety awareness by Walking across India. This unique project titled ‘1Crore Steps for Safer Roads’- a movement that starred on 28 th July from Kanyakumari transformed into a national movement through the tremendous support from thousands of volunteers across the country.
“With 1.31 Billion plus Road Safety Steps donated, 1.5 Lakhs people walked along the Campaign trail from Kanyakumari to J&K, approx. 30 Lakhs awareness reach through Digital channel and more than 120 School participating, this was indeed the Longest & Largest public mobilization to put Road Safety on National Priority”, Says Rama Shankar Pandey, MD, Hella Lightings & President CWC for NGO ClubD2S.
The campaign received an over whelming response from various union Ministers including Mr Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, Mr Suresh Prabhu Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation , Mr Anant Geete Union Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises in the Government of India. At a passionate event in Transport Bhawan New Delhi , Mr Nitin Gadkari expressed his gratitude to Club D2S and felicitated the contributors of #MeraKadamMeriSuraksha movement and encouraged them to keep up the great work .
Mr Milind Soman, Mr Sonu Nigam, MD’s, CEO’s & CXO’s of all major Automotive Manufacturers and Auto Component Manufacturers personally supported the #1CroreSteps movement and appealed Indians to contribute their part before it’s too late. Shri Nigam also gave voice to the Road Safety Song “Zidd Hai”, created specifically for this Campaign.
The Campaign was supported by The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, FICCI, ACMA, SIAM, CII-Yi , FADA, AIAWA, ASDC, AIMA, NGO Arrive safe, Save Life Foundation, WRI, Raahgiri day , Center for Road Safety, Jaipur AWC, RSO-Gurgaon, Faridabad and partnered by Hella, WABCO & Brakes India. Volunteers from Bharat Scouts & Guide, NCC, CRPF, RAF, ITBP, BSF, CISF NSS, Sports Authority of India,
NDRF, Rotary Clubs, Schools, Colleges, Traffic Police Organizations across the country, Runners & Walkers Group donated their walk to bring the Change. It is the “Longest and Largest Walkathon” ever done in the country on Road safety .
Walking through Tamil Nadu. Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, and finally to Jammu and Kashmir, the participants have not only created awareness for safer Indian roads, but also discovered the bottlenecks of the Indian road infrastructure which needs to be designed and executed keeping in view the safety of pedestrians.
The campaign also reached Wagah Border towards its end. It was for the first time that a civilian movement had touched the shores of Wagha Border. Team of ClubD2S Educated more than 50,000 Citizens at Wagha Border about need to bring urgency to Arresting Road Deaths and putting it to National Priority.
The project had a record walk from Kanyakumari to Jammu, 3600 kilometers, covered by Subramanian ‘Subu’ Narayanan who is an employee of Hella India & member of ClubD2S. The campaign started on the 28th of July 2018, and was successfully concluded on 15th October 2018. The project had participation and engagement from the general public in the form of short walks to show their solidarity with the cause, by “Walk Donation” from anywhere in the country, #MeraKadamMeriSuraksha – a first of its kind in India to support the cause of Arresting Alarming Road Deaths.
Walk donation was done on www.onecroresteps.com . #MeraKadamMerSuraksha. appealed to every Citizens in India to show their strength to the cause by walking with a yellow ribbon, walk with an internal commitment to respect other road users and road rules and donate the walk and also motivate and inspire their close friends and families to donate a walk for safer roads. When one demonstrates of “Being that Change”, “All at Once”, ClubD2S believes, India will transform its Civic Traffic Sense & arrest alarming level of Road Deaths and avoid enormous level of stress on our Roads.
The project demonstrated how our “Daily Walk Donation” can arrest alarming road deaths. Public walk donation as manifestation to their own willingness to “Be The Change” and “Be The Hero” of this transformation of Indian Traffic Public Sense for all in the time to come was a huge success. This was done by taking a Step towards Safer Road Behavior, committing towards self-discipline of respecting other Road Users, be the defensive driver, respect the Road rules and record this commitment by a symbolic “Walk Donation” from anywhere in the country.
The campaign that started with a mission to achieve 1 crore steps, received much enthusiasm and support, surpassing the number of steps taken by the participants by over 100 times, and ended at a whopping 131crore steps. With each passing day, the campaign only garnered attention for the good, and received unprecedented support from people from all walks of life such as corporates, schools, armed forces, paramilitary, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) joining the walk from all over the country. Over 200 schools & colleges from various part of the country joined the campaign & helped in spreading the message.
Such was the momentum of the campaign that many Indian groups donated their steps from abroad as well. Many Indian runners participated in Berlin Marathon on 16 th September supporting the cause & donated their steps to the campaign to make Indian Roads safer. Similarly, In Rajasthan a multi-location walkathon was organized in 33 district headquarters so that steps are contributed for the cause.
With road safety being on the forefront, the objective of the campaign was to Initiate Nationwide Public Debate to put “Arresting Alarming Level of Road Deaths” as our National Priority. It also wanted to a build Common Platform for various Organisations involved to promote Road Safety Awareness. It also wanted to spread the message that Walk promotes less vehicle usage for short distances, it gives confidence to pedestrians for walking and create advocacy for appropriate Pedestrian Road Infrastructure as basic right of Indian Citizens.