Bribes take lives, fines save them
?When tax money doesn’t go where it is supposed to be going, we have problems?
TTHERE ARE THOSE FELLOWS WHO drive down the wrong side of the road just to save a few bucks worth of gas. Then there are those fellows who wear old, used helmets just to get past the cop at the signal. There are guys who don’t know what dipped lights are and there are numbskulls who think using the hazard lights in a tunnel is the correct thing to do. I am sure numbskull number one didn’t know the raging trend he kick-started when he oh-so-cleverly switched his hazards on in a tunnel for the first time. Then there are trucks that have no working tail lamps, trucks that drive around with steel bars sticking out the back (transporting TMT bars like this was outlawed a few years ago but as usual everyone seems to have forgottenF, people who think they don’t have to look left or right when they drive across a crossroad, people who let their livestock wander onto the road and chaps who have no idea of correct tyre pressure or tread depth. There are bus drivers who know they can bully you off the road. There are contractors who think nothing of leaving construction debris in hazardous places, people who don’t want to build roads well so that they will deteriorate again next year and said person can make more money building that road again. It is no secret that there are a million ways to kill yourself on our roads.
Who is to blame when a bus runs into two parked cars on the expressway and twenty innocents die? It’s easy to blame the drivers, the law un- enforcement, the RTO, whoever, but I blame the people we elect. I blame the same fellows who drive around in XUVs (if not more expensive vehiclesF paid for with our tax money. The same people who ensure that our tax money never gets anywhere but in their pockets. The same people who will ensure the contract to build a road goes to his convicted murderer cousin so he can get his share of the kickbacks.
Our gazillion road deaths a year is because of these absolutely worthless goons. When tax money doesn’t go to where it is supposed to be going, we have problems. That policeman is probably forced to take a bribe because his government salary hasn’t been updated since independence. The government can’t afford to update his salary because they’re busy lining their own pockets.
That traffic policeman has probably got to feed his family and send his kids to school so he has no choice to let the rule breaker off for small handout. The cascading effect of this is that everyone knows they can get away with it and leads to more breaking lights, wearing stupid helmets and driving down the wrong side of the road. More people die. No one really cares.
The RTO official who is handing out licenses – why should he care as long as he gets his share of the take. It’s not his job to make sure everyone knows the rules before they are let loose behind the wheel. iet them out on the roads – the good ones will survive, the stupid ones will die.
I hear good things though – I hear the Maharashtra government is looking at increasing traffic offense fines five-fold. This is good, it is a step forward and I hope other states follow. Maybe it will make people think twice about cutting lights. It is that or the policeman will now only let you off for a ` 500 bribe instead of the standard ` 100. Either way, the deterrent to committing these seemingly harmless traffic crimes is greater and I think this will reduce accidents.
You see, after years of driving all over my country, I’ve come to believe this is a country of shortcuts and when it comes to saving a buck, there’s little that will stop most Indians from throwing common sense out of the window and committing manslaughter. One of the best ways to curtail this shortcut mentality is to pinch where it hurts the most – the wallet.