You wake up from your bed in the morning - positively wishing it to be a great day! You prepare a refreshing cup of chai and sit down to read the newspaper. Now imagine being greeted by such horrifying pictures that make it to the headlines more often than not these days!
It is sure to create some negative energy that will linger around through out the day. Newspapers don't put them there intentionally to spoil their reader's mood early in the morning but they want to highlight the horrifying reality of accidents and meager safety standards we follow in our daily life! Few take it seriously by considering it a warning and reminder of safety standards to follow but a majority sadly ignore them as if they are staged images!
India's economy is growing steadily and so is the standard of living. Now even a lower middle class person can afford to buy a two-wheeler and upper middle class a four-wheeler. With this current and potentially-expected-to-multiply kind of scenario, do we have enough co-ordination between the government that provides infrastructure for our roads, people who drive the vehicles and the manufacturers who make the vehicles? The answer is a big 'No'. Everyone is running in their own direction in search of money, leaving other's safety and life at stake :(
Being a four-wheeler owner myself, I can very well relate to situation on the roads today. The place I live was nothing more than a village just a decade ago. Now due to Hitech boom, inflow of people have multiplied and so are the number of four-wheeler & two-wheeler users on the road. First of all is the road equipped to handle this sudden surge of vehicles? A big 'No'. Result - 'Complete Chaos'. Peak traffic time commute is a hell. It inevitably leads to reckless driving and hence accidents! This one is to be blamed on the Government! Why provide license to so many vehicles when the infrastructure doesn't support them at first place? Well, it's the money they get out of road tax from each vehicle owner that lure them into brainless issuance of approval!
Instead of acting immature, our government should concentrate on building infrastructure for effective mass-public-commute and generate income from that. Once efficient public commute is in place, tax on private vehicles should be increased in such a way that not everyone can afford them. Yes, it certainly brings down the luxury that we have today but will definitely shift our attention towards public-commute options! This will automatically reduce the load on our roads and streamline the traffic and fuel usage on the whole.
Along with it, government should take strict steps towards enforcing speed limits. In fact current speed limits can be brought down further for safe handling of our chaotic traffic. Those who break the speed limit should be fined very heavily and given a immediate training on driving cautiously.
Well, you are wrong if you think this is yet another blog-post blaming government!! This is just one part. When government is responsible for providing infrastructure, citizens are equally responsible for utilizing them responsibly to their advantage!
When government provides good roads for effective connectivity, it should not be taken as a license for speedy driving. When traffic lights are provided to decongest traffic, we should realize it should be respected. Instead of taking it to their advantage, people just panic and make every futile effort to clear it before it turns red.
When speed limits and other rules are marked, it should be respected and followed. Most prominent of them being wearing Helmet (it is said wear helmet or be ready for hell-met!) or wearing seat-belt.
When it is advised not to involve in drunken driving, it should not be cheated by drinking partially to drive! When you want to enjoy, why enjoy partially? Drink to your heart's content and take a cab back home. Everyone is safe and happy that way!
and yes, it takes just self-realization more than advise or rules to avoid using mobile phones while driving!!
Most accidents happen due to citizens not having proper education on driving. Driving schools should not consider 'teaching driving' as a process of minting money. They should really equip their learners with all the skills required for driving safely. Today half the drivers don't understand how risky it is to switch lanes without indicators (well, most of them don't even have them) and why drive with full beam? If only they were taught about it, today we don't have to face this situation. On the same lines, the procedure for attaining license should be made very stringent. Driving tests should seriously test the drivers skills both theoretically and practically without having any influence of middle-men. This will automatically put responsible drivers on the road, avoiding cheating and bribery later to escape the bad situation!
Lessons on road safety should be made a part of curriculum to impart necessary knowledge on safety guidelines from the early age. Today most youngsters (even before reaching minimum age for driving) enjoy speed without following proper safety guidelines without understanding - "Speed thrills but kills"! This should JUST STOP!!
On a fantastic move today CBSE board has
announced its intentions of introducing a new course on road safety in its curriculum. Hope this reaches the young generation fast!
Now, finally coming to the vehicle manufacturers, instead of thinking as an attractive mass-market to make profits, they should think about producing quality vehicles. Recently two big brands failed even the basic safety regulation tests! With improving technology, they can do research to provide built-in safety measures like not allowing the vehicles to speed more than designated speeds. Automatically reducing the speed depending on the gap between vehicles, Not allowing the vehicles to start without
helmet or seat-belt etc. Even though drivers are expected to take care of few things for their own safety, mandating it via technology will doubly ensure their safety on the roads.
The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., conducts the Nissan Safety Driving Forum (NSDF) in India as part of its safety driving promotion activities. As part of its 'Blue Citizenship' global social responsibility platform, it addresses various issues that affect road users, including fatalities on the road. To know more about their promotion activity, click
here (https://www.nissan.in/innovation/NSDF.html). It is always good to know about safety practices and prevent any undue incidents instead of getting hurt and looking for cure. If you are around in one of the cities where this program is being conducted this year (Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Vadodara, Nagpur, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi), do take sometime to participate and benefit from this program.
.jpg)
Very well researched blog post. The photos tell a tale nobody wants to hear. Thanks for using them anyway.
ReplyDelete