In India, 1.5 lakh people die every year because of lack of road safety. This is even more than most densely populated cities of the world. This issue is solvable, if awareness regarding road safety and traffic safety is spread correctly in common people. Team Baroda Beat got lucky enough to encounter one such idea-rather the movement and to meet the brilliant mind behind this initiative; Mr. Satyen Kulabkar. He initiated and created "Team S.A.F.E."-Safety Awareness for Everyone. From his busy schedule of managing two T's of his life-Tata and Team S.A.F.E., national award winner for road safety and traffic. Mr. Satyen took out some time for us from his busy schedule and had a talk with us. Here are the glimpses of the session we had.

Que.) What is Team S.A.F.E. and how does it work?

Ans.) Team S.A.F.E. - Safety Awareness for Everyone. Team S.A.F.E. basically works as a platform for youth who want to reach out to the community for helping them. A group of voluntary young people are trained with traffic rules and road safety and this group of 20-25 divide themselves into smaller groups and then each group conducts programs for sensitizing people in the community and this how team safe reaches to the masses. Team S.A.F.E. doesn't receive any funding for its work. It is completely a voluntary organization. Also, Team S.A.F.E. is involved in Baroda police traffic awareness programs.

Que.) How did Team S.A.F.E. happen?

Ans.) I always wanted to find a way to giving back to the society. Having money doesn't totally solve all the problems because you have to initiate an idea and find out a way to make sustainable changes. Indian youth talks about how nobody is doing anything for anyone, so why not make way for their contribution to the society. This made the idea of Team S.A.F.E. possible.

Que.) Can you please share some activities/achievements of Team S.A.F.E.?

Ans.) Team S.A.F.E. has educated 90,000 children regarding road safety in the year 2013. Team S.A.F.E. has got three world records mentioned in the Limca Book of World Record on its name in 2014. It holds the record for conducting awareness programs in 40 schools and 40 corporate in a single day and also holds record for 6000 hours of work in a single year. Team S.A.F.E. does road safety carnivals as a part of their annual event. They have started an initiative of painting the walls with graffiti on road safety.

Que.) Any news from your side, Sir?

Ans.) It is an accomplishment that M.S. University of Baroda is introducing a certificate course on road safety in the section of adult education courses in which I will be the key person. Team S.A.F.E. is planning to expand their horizons and is starting their work in Surat and Rajkot as well.

Que.) Any message for the youth?

Ans.) I only want to say that be confident when you start working towards something. You are alone at first but people will join you, you just need to be focused on the goal you want to achieve.