Kolkata: A Bluetooth button to alert the authorities, including violence committed on women – that’s the latest effort by the state government’s Transport Department to improve safety while travelling. This would work in conjunction with the soon-to-be-launched Pathadisha Road Safety app for smartphones, also by the Transport Department. The new feature would be an added boon to a traveller, especially in an emergency situation where it might be difficult to take one’s mobile phone out to send the emergency message through the app’s button. With this Bluetooth device, shaped like a button, and technically called Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) button, just simple pressing would alert the emergency number, a transport official here today said The Pathadisha Road Safety app has, among other facilities, three options – ‘incident’, ‘accident’ and ‘violence against women’. The Bluetooth button pressed once alerts the authorities to any incident one is involved in, pressed twice alerts about an accident, and pressed thrice alerts about violence against women. The alerts would go to the police and three pre-designated numbers, be it friends, family, relatives or any other people chosen by the app user. Tapping the options on the app would also send the messages. These Bluetooth buttons would have to be bought separately, the cost of which would be between Rs 500 and Rs 600.
