On June 4, The Initiative on Waste, Informal Workers, and the Future of Chennai, a coalition of research and advocacy groups currently led by Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), undertook a waste assessment and characterisation study (WACS) on Marina Beach, Chennai.
Having recently joined CAG, in the capacity of a researcher, I was excited and curious as to the kind of work my job would entail. I wasn’t disappointed. The very first projects I was roped into were about road safety and zero waste cities.
In the rat race that is the urban lifestyle, we constantly have our foot on the accelerator, trying to get from point A to B in impossibly short times. Small gap in traffic opens in front of us and the instinct is to floor it and close the gap.
I have been driving a bike since 2012, and often see two-wheeler accidents. This caused me to look at the data to understand why two-wheeler involvement in accidents was so high, especially as I was two-wheeler rider.
The years 2011-2020 have been designated as the Decade of Action for Road Safety by the WHO. This is global acknowledgment of the gravity of road safety issues across the world and the lives being lost to it.
