NEW DELHI: Concerned over the rising number of road rage incidents in the city, a group of ex-servicemen has decided to involve auto and e-rickshaw drivers to check the menace.

The team led by Ajay Pandey, a former Indian Air Force officer, has launched a campaign in which the three-wheeler drivers will be asked to take the pledge to prevent unnecessary arguments and violence on the road. The city has witnessed two road rage cases, leading to deaths, in the past one month.

According to the police, about 100 road rage cases were reported in 2014 as against 53 in 2013. These include only those, which have been reported to the police. “Countless cases of road rage happen in the city each day, most of which remain unreported as the victims rarely call the PCR or note down vehicle numbers to avoid legal hassles,” said Pandey. Pandey has launched a website, sensibledrives.net, and invited people to take the pledge for a peaceful resolution of the conflicts.

Those who sign up will be asked to volunteer as counselors if they come across incidents of road rage. Pandey even plans to come up with a course for the counselors on anger management. He also plans to rope in Delhi Police once the campaign becomes successful.

Pandey came up with the idea following the recent incident in Mundka where a DTC bus driver was bludgeoned to death by a youth. “There cannot be any justification for killing a person without a reason. I have been to various parts of South Asia during and found all the countries have an unwritten norm to follow road discipline, which is totally absent in Delhi,” he said.

Pandey, who opted for a voluntary retirement from his service at the IAF headquarters in the city, has roped in his former colleagues Ankush Gupta, Vishnu Pandey and Arvind Tewari to launch the campaign against road rage.

Pandey said the primary cause for such outbursts is lack of self-control and anger management—a problem prevalent among youngsters these days.

So far, more than 120 auto and e-rickshaw drivers have taken the pledge to work as volunteers. “It was found that many of them were involved in road rage incidents. The probability of them getting into a brawl or becoming a victim is also high. My plan is to involve them first,” said Pandey. At present, Pandey’s team is reaching out to drivers at the railway stations.

