Traffic Police’s Life Saving Music

When words fail to explain, music can help convey the message. Pune City traffic police constable Atish Chandrakant Kharade is doing a unique and amazing job to raise awareness about traffic and road safety. He is on his mission to connect with people, especially young folks, to spread awareness of road and traffic safety through music. Not only this, Atish even got his pet dog 'Ellie' to wear a watermelon helmet and ride on his bike through the city to show that even a dog can wear a helmet, so why can't you? He shares his experiences from his own traffic safety campaign. Read on…

Every second day, Atish used to see people getting hurt in accidents due to not adhering to the traffic rules. It was no less than a painful sight for him. Just like other traffic police officers, he also used to feel helpless about it. Even though the traffic police have tried many times to teach people about traffic rules, people still don't follow the rules and get into accidents. He said, "After working as a traffic police officer for a few years, I saw a lot of small accidents that caused people to die just because they didn't wear helmets. When we ask people to wear helmets while riding two-wheelers, they react very rudely and give their reasons for not wearing it. People just don't understand that we want to keep them safe from fatal accidents."

Passion for singing

Atish says that he must maintain traffic discipline in the city, ensuring that people are complying with the road safety norms. Thus, he chose music to spread awareness of traffic norms. In his free time, he enjoys singing Bollywood songs. His friends heard his singing and thought more people should hear it, so they encouraged him to record songs and put hem on social media. He said, "I love singing and my friends pushed me to record a song and share it on social media. To my surprise, it got a lot of views, and that's when I decided to do something different by combining my passion with my job. I wrote a Marathi song about traffic safety rules based on the tune of popular Marathi song "Ved Lavlay", to engage the young generation. They're learning to wear helmets through my music without needing punishments or lectures."

Atish began his journey in 2018 by putting his music videos on YouTube. At first, he sang Bollywood songs and he became quite popular. But then he decided to use his fame to raise awareness. He started writing his songs, recorded them on his phone and shared them on social media. He said, "What started as a passion has now turned into my duty. My videos are creating a positive impact on people’s minds”.

Award recognition

Despite working long hours, Atish always finds time to create awareness videos. After five years of hard work, he finally began to see the change he desired, with people wearing helmets while riding two-wheelers. Both the public and the government, including the Pune City traffic police, appreciated his efforts. He said, “In 2022, I received two awards for raising traffic awareness, taking social initiatives and performing diligent duty. One of these awards, called the Maharashtra Ratna Puruskar, acknowledged my efforts in promoting traffic awareness and performing tireless duty. The other award I received was for my music video based on the importance of wearing helmets”. These accolades inspired him to do more in his awareness campaign. “I observed that people prefer watching videos over reading, so I started a series on traffic rules and the penalty process”, he added. Recently, the traffic police issued guidelines to prevent fake challan scams and Atish created an awareness video to help people avoid falling victim to cybercriminals.

Road safety patrol team

Atish is also part of the road safety patrol team. They visit about 500 schools in Pune to teach kids why wearing helmets and following traffic rules are important. Atish and his 7 teammates take care of around 70 schools, in areas like Yerwada, Wanwadi, Swargate, Kondhwa, Hadapsar and Cantonment.

After visiting these schools, we came to know that many teenagers were reaching school on mopeds or bikes. In some of these schools, even the school had warned them about road safety. Atish said, “Concerned about this, we came up with a creative way to raise awareness. We teach students from 7th to 10th grade about road safety, how to get a licence, the dangers of wrong-way driving, the consequences of accidents, etc. We received positive feedback and now many teenage students who used to ride two-wheelers to school are cycling instead”.

"When we ask people to wear helmets while riding two-wheelers, they react very rudely and give their reasons for not wearing it. People just don't understand that we want to keep them safe from fatal accidents"

Future project campaign

Atish is currently working on his next video, which will show how people are misusing footpaths and roads. Atish explained, “These days, I have been noticing a strange thing where pedestrians walk on the road while riders take their bikes onto the footpath to escape traffic. We have tried to stop such actions but people don't pay attention. So, I decided to create a powerful video about this issue to help people understand the difference between roads and footpaths and how to use them properly”. He added, “Wearing a helmet is about safety, not fashion, and I will keep coming up with new and creative ideas to make people understand and comply with traffic rules."

The story of Ellie

We all know that the police use dogs to help with investigations. But have you ever seen a dog riding a bike with a traffic police officer to teach people about traffic rules? Atish came up with this unique idea. He said, “Just for fun, I took my pug ‘Ellie’ for a ride around the city with a helmet on her head to see how people would react”. He tried a regular helmet, but it was too big for her. Then he used a watermelon, cut it neatly to look like a helmet, and put it on her head. “I dressed ‘Ellie’ like a traffic cop, made her sit on my bike, and we went for a ride. While riding around the city, we observed that people were watching us surprisingly well. Some even said that they realised their mistake and would start wearing helmets. That’s when I felt that my efforts made a positive impact, at least to some extent”, added Kharade.