Pledge for better road-safety, this New Year
Badal Gulati, a 49-year-old publisher, got off from his late night flight and was looking forward to being at home. But little did he know what destiny had planned for him
Getting into a private cab, Gulati sat next to the driver as he always did. In hindsight, he thought the driver looked tired. However now, he can only smile at the accident that he had been a victim of two months ago.
The only thing he is rather thankful for is that it wasn’t December yet, as that would have meant foggy roads with poor visibility. After fastening their seat belts they took off towards his home. And then it happened — like a bolt from the blue.
The only recollection Gulati has is of the ‘moment’ when he was wreathing in excessive pain. “It just felt as if the world had crashed down upon me him. When in truth the driver had rammed the cab, going at break-neck speed, straight into one of the dividers that lead towards the flyovers close to the airport,” says Gulati, who counts himself fortunate that he did not lose consciousness.
It was only a matter of seconds that an unknown Road Hero, who was the driver of an Uber that was passing by, came to help. “I managed to give him my wife’s contact number, and told him to take me to the super speciality hospital near my home,” says Gulati.
Tests revealed that he suffered from broken ribs. The seat belt that Gulati was wearing had helped. Such was the force of the impact that he would have collided with the windshield and probably been tossed into the air, if he wasn’t wearing the seat belt.
However, Gulati never ceases to wonder what went wrong that day. He says, “Even today, I think that the driver had probably fallen asleep. My only regret is that, after the usual pleasantries with the driver, I didn’t continue talking to him. That stretch of the road was empty and there was no reason for the accident to happen.”
Gulati spent a couple of days at the hospital and more than a few months recuperating at home. “After all, little can be done with ribs. They mostly heal on their own,” he says.
Completely up and about now, Gulati will soon get down to be part of the Road Hero programmes that help in spreading awareness about the need to observe traffic rules. “Life is too precious to be frittered away so lightly,” says Gulati, who has been particularly impressed with what Hero MotoCorp is doing — organising activities in schools so that more and more youngsters feel inspired to take a pledge to become Road Heroes.
So why not start with a
New Year resolution for better road safety? Resolutions are not easy to keep, but we can do it with a checklist of good habits, having simple and specific goals, repeating regularly, measuring the progress, and keeping a reward for success.