When losing one’s child spurs a person to serve others and become a hero-this is the story of Dorris Francis. Dorris is known as the ‘traffic heroine’ in Ghaziabad, a suburban area near New Delhi. Dorris is not a police officer but manages traffic in the same spot day after day, on a busy intersection of roads. The intersection has a special significance for her – it is the same place her daughter Nikki died in an accident in 2010.
Dorris is confident and looks in complete control as she ensures the smooth and safe passage of traffic in the area. “I know about her story, she works selflessly. I haven’t seen many who have the courage like her. I don’t know how she can come every day to the same spot where she lost her daughter,” police constable Kumar Pal Singh, who is at the intersection, told BBC.
Dorris still remembers the day when a speeding car hit the auto-rickshaw in which she was travelling with her daughter. “She died, I survived. I wish traffic was managed better that day,” Dorris said to BBC. When Dorris is present, most drivers follow her instructions and the traffic looks orderly in an otherwise chaotic intersection where accidents are commonplace. She even gets tough with them, sometimes even mildly whacking reckless pedestrians and drivers with a stick.
“It’s been more than six years since I started. My mission was to save lives and not let any mother lose her daughter, husband or son. And that’s what I have been doing and I will continue to do until I have strength in my body,” says Dorris.
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