AATISH MISHRA

Speeding is not the problem. Let’s look at the bigger picture urges Aatish

The streets are nothing short of a minefield for motorists, and no one but the authorities are responsible for it

ROAD SAFETY HAS FINALLY MADE IT INTO mainstream conversation and it isn’t a moment too late. The tragic accident that claimed the life of Cyrus Mistry was the trigger, and while it shouldn’t have taken an eminent person’s demise to cause such furore, at this point, I’ll take what we get. There’s plenty of finger-pointing at who or what was at fault in that accident, but the nitty gritties are irrelevant. We need to look at the bigger picture. At the end of the day, these deaths will be but a minuscule part of the 1.5 lakh lives our roads claim every single year.

The official records state that the biggest cause of fatalities is ‘speeding’. I disagree. It is very true that speeding is dangerous — it reduces the time you have to react to a situation, and the forces of an accident at higher speeds are much more than at lower ones. But blanketing so many incidents blindly under the umbrella of speeding hides the real problems that plague our roads. It conveniently places the blame solely on the persons involved in the accidents. The issues are more widespread. Infrastructure, our attitudes, our education, the systems designed to ensure our roads run smoothly — everything contributes to making our roads the most dangerous in the world.

Just look at the number of bikers on the road without helmets. Helmets have been proven to save lives and yet, millions don’t use them. The same thing goes for seat belts. People have them, they simply don’t use them. I’ve seen people click their seat belts in, and then move the shoulder straps behind their backs. Or worse still, they put these clips into the buckles to trick the car into believing the belts are on, when they actually aren’t. Why does this happen? The lack of education could certainly be one reason. I don’t mean whether you’ve finished school or college, but learning how these safety systems work, or what helmets do, and how critical they are to staying safe on our roads. People are oblivious. And so they choose not to use them. Worse still are the people who know the consequences of not wearing a seatbelt / helmet and continue not to do so. I don’t know what they’re thinking — whether they believe that nothing bad can befall them, or whether it’s that chalta hai attitude that is so common in this country. Either way, the consequences are deadly. These people truly do not care about themselves, never mind other road users. There’s no escaping the fact that our infrastructure is terrible. Badly surfaced roads are just the beginning — there are unmarked road works, highways that narrow and widen at a whim, terrible urban planning, unmarked breakers on national highways, lack of drainage, open manholes.

The streets are nothing short of a minefield for motorists, and no one but the authorities are responsible for it. Many roads do not have footpaths to accommodate pedestrians and ones that do have hawkers on them. Pedestrians are forced to walk on the roads, putting them at a higher risk of getting into an accident. Shoddy infrastructure has become an accepted part of our lives in this country, but it absolutely should not be.

Then there’s the lack of civic sense. People simply do not respect road rules — running red lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, disregarding pedestrians, riding on the footpath, the works. Part of this is due to the lack of enforcement of road rules — the authorities simply do not care, and only enforce the rules when they really need to. Better enforcement would certainly help, just look at how wellbehaved motorists in Chandigarh are. The cops are strict there, and the streets are relatively safe. But we should not need to be shown the stick to behave ourselves — civic sense should be something that we inherently display.

There are plenty more issues at hand. Cattle on the highways is becoming a massive problem, particularly in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Drunken driving is a rampant issue that many, even in my own circles, take lightly. Vehicles are poorly maintained, some have barely any tread left on their tyres. Slow moving heavy vehicles take over the fast lanes and force faster vehicles into slower lanes. The list goes on and on and on.

All this, while the government goes off on its own tangent, mandating six airbags in cars. News flash: airbags are effective only if you’re wearing your belts.

Systemic changes are needed, but at this point, we must also look at ourselves in the mirror. Stop being lackadaisical about road rules. Let go of that chalta hai attitude. Drive defensively on our roads, because there’s no one looking out for you but yourself. Don’t break the rules. Hold your legislators responsible. These roads aren’t mine or yours, they are ours. Let’s treat them as such. ⌧