SOME SPEEDS ARE 'NOT' GOOD.

Sometimes I wonder, whom to feel pity upon, when a Mercedes and Aston martin collides?

I witness fatal accidents everyday amidst this unruly traffic of Hyderabad who does nothing more than adding up to the statistics. These accidents happen more due to our own carelessness.

The police database says that by the end of December 28, 2012, 462 lives were snuffed out in road accidents in Hyderabad.

In this urban life, everybody is in a hurry. And nobody has time to stop and help somebody. And this want to reach earliest, puts further burden on your accelerator. That much burden, which might prove fatal.

Many among us feel that, one, two or even three drinks will not affect their senses. And they can reach their destination with ease.

Many of us talk on phone assuming excellent control over self driving. We do not use safety belt, or helmet. We feel we have full knowledge of our safety.

We forget that along with our own life, we are risking others lives too. However good we feel about our driving, but we have no rights to take a chance with others lives because ‘others’ are not only ‘others’, rather ‘own’ for somebody.

There is a lot of talk on self discipline and civic sense, but it is rarely practiced on road. We do not follow traffic rules as part of discipline of care for other's safety. Be it civilized parking or following traffic rules, one does it out of the fear for some uniformed fellow.

We usually praise the road discipline of other developed countries like USA or UK and compare with our own. But we cannot deny the fact that the pitiful condition of our unruly traffic is due to us only.

We need to accept that we are such a citizen who does not have a penny of self discipline. We break signals, park randomly, we cut lane without flipping our eyelids or even without signaling the vehicle behind us.

Few of us do not remove our hands from horn and legs from accelerator.

We do all illegal things on road and then blame traffic management.

If we really believe ourselves to be an independent citizen of an independent country and have carte blanche to do anything, then why do we need a uniformed official to keep us within road discipline?

Many of us go to drop our children to school.  They observe our driving, road discipline etc and simultaneously learn it. Now you only tell what can we accept from future?

Our lack of self discipline is favored by such a legal system which is not at all in a hurry to improve laws against rash driving. Non-availability of strict punishment in cases of drunken driving or rash driving, help people to escape very lightly.

How about fine for drunken driving be equal to actual cost of the car? What if the vehicle and license of drunken driver is seized forever? Why not make it a non-bailable offence?

A drunken person driving in public is equivalent to shooting randomly in public. Our constitution provides to its entire citizen, right to protection. But pedestrians do not even get a chance to protect themselves. How would he sense the dicey that the vehicle coming towards him is not running on petrol rather than alcohol?

So if we can have strict rules against murder than why rules against drunken driving are relieved.

Deaths due to over speeding, drunken driving or rash driving is not just fate.

These facts might be bitter but it is applicable equally on all of us.

Following rules of public life cannot be considered as an option. Road safety rules are meant for us, our children and for this society to improve the quality of life.

So just does not be a part of such statistics. When a Mercedes or Aston martin collides, we cannot just pity upon the luxury car or the driver’s life. But, we must feel pity upon their relatives who lost someone close embracing a grief for rest of their lives.

(Data from: - http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/road-rage-deaths-shoot-up-in-2012/article4253690.ece )

                                                                  Signing off:-Mr  R.K. Narnoli