The "Reality show on traffic" idea has been accepted by CNN IBN - woohoo!

I had a call with CNN IBN yesterday and they said that they liked the idea and are going to use it for a show called Urban Chaos starting in Jan next year. :) I hope to get involved in the planning and execution of the show.
Meanwhile, they have asked me to shoot an episode for 'Be the Change', a show about citizens who tackle problems on their own. I have requested Jayarama, Ruchira and Murali to be a part of it as they, like me, are passionate about solving the traffic problems. (If you want to join in, send me an email)
I will be given a camera and will be expected to shoot for about 3 weeks, detailing what problem we face and what we are doing to solve it.
I hope it's not a prank (would be a good one though ;) ).
Anyway, this is just the means to get more traction on our efforts to ease the flow of traffic in CT (and maybe in Hyderabad as well).

Submitted an idea for a reality show to CNN IBN

I submitted an idea to CNN-IBN about a reality show on traffic in Indian cities. Here is what I submitted:

Idea:
Why don't we have a reality show to find out which Indian city has the best traffic? This will give a chance to involve the people in the respective cities, a grassroots movement of sorts.

You can have user votes, a panel of judges, but most importantly, residents of the cities will take pride in making their city's traffic better. The end result will be that all the participating cities will have better traffic at the end of the show and everyone wins.
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Let's see if they like the idea, because I think there will be a lot of positives coming out of such a reality show.

So what do we do next?

After the relatively successful Free The Left Lane (FTLL) initiative, we are left thinking about the obvious question: What next?
I termed FTLL as "relatively successful" because for the 6 weeks that we were actively regulating the traffic, the traffic flow around CT was actually under control, primarily because of following one simple rule - keep the left lane free.
Now this proved that if the citizens wish to improve the traffic in Hyderabad, they can.

How can we sustain the momentum built up by FTLL?
In my opinion, in addition to changing people's mindsets about traffic rules, the traffic police should become strict with traffic offenders and start fining drivers who do not follow rules.

You could get fined for rash driving, using your mobile while driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, not wearing a seatbelt/helmet. Punishments could range from monetary fines to revoking licenses or even community service (I don't know how that would work in India)

This would raise funds for the Traffic Police and these funds could be used for procurement of better equipment. Quite honestly, I would rather prefer that the fines collected be used to increase the Traffic Policemen's salaries. It is hard, strenuous work out there; try standing on the road for 2 hours in a day, you'll realise how tough it is for the Traffic Policemen.