How safe are our roads?

How safe are our roads?
New Indian Express

A Ravindra

Bangalore has always been famous for ‘horse races’ and attracts people of all classes for the exciting betting game. But the IT capital has now acquired a new fame or notoriety for another kind of race, the ‘drag race’. There is, however, no separate racing ground for it. The main streets in the central area of Bangalore – M G Road-Brigade Road-Cubbon Road circuit turn into a racing track after 10 pm every night for groups of youth who hold races for two and four wheelers till midnight.

With dazzling headlights, screeching tyres and blaring horns, they zoom past the normal traffic creating a scare among hapless drivers and pedestrians. The traffic police, silent spectators of the growing menace for long, suddenly decided to act.

On March 18, Traffic Police Sub-Inspector Arun Kumar and his team were keeping vigil on speeding vehicles at BRV Junction when they received a wireless message that a Scorpio had ripped past the Manipal traffic junction. They quickly installed barricades on one side of the road and signalled the vehicle to stop. As the Scorpio pulled up, the PSI asked the passengers to roll down the glasses. In a deceptive move, the driver swerved, accelerated, knocked down the police officer and sped away. A seriously injured Arun Kumar died on the way to the hospital. Unfortunately, the identity of the vehicle could not be established.

The incident yet again raises the oft-repeated question: how safe are Indian roads? The number of accidents has only been going up over the years, from 15,000 in 1970 to 62,000 in 2000 and a current figure of about 85,000.This constitutes over ten per cent of world accidents and is without doubt a matter of serious concern. The traffic in our metros has not only become chaotic but poses a danger to human life. Ironically, while our auto industry is booming and contributing a great deal to economic growth, there is also a negative impact in the form of growing traffic congestion, accidents and pollution. The number of motor vehicles in the Indian cities is increasing at a tremendous pace. Bangalore alone has about 2.2million vehicles while Delhi has double the number. Motor vehicle ownership is growing anywhere between 10 and 20 per cent per annum. However, the infrastructure needed to accommodate the burgeoning numbers is lagging far behind, creating a curious mismatch in our transportation scenario—good cars and bad roads, more vehicles but poor traffic planning, more jobs in the driving sector but poorly trained drivers.

Do we realise what a heavy price we are paying by ignoring traffic safety? It is estimated that the loss caused on account of traffic accidents is of the order of Rs 5,000 crores a year, more than the annual plan budget of some of the smaller states. Apart from the financial or economic loss, the suffering and agony caused to individuals and families due to death and injuries can never really be estimated. The tragedy of accidents is that many of them are avoidable. According to a study, which analysed the reasons behind accidents, 77 per cent of the accidents in India were attributed to improper driving and only 6 per cent to defective vehicles, 4 per cent to pedestrians and 3 per cent to cyclists. In other words, a vast majority of the accidents are caused by human error. The factors behind human failure are overspeeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, non-use of helmets or seat belts and lack of traffic discipline.

The various reasons for accidents can well be identified but the fundamental issue relates to human behaviour. Why is it so many of us routinely violate traffic regulations, why is it we try to obtain driving license without undergoing driving test, why do we drink and drive, why is it we have no concern for our fellow drivers and pedestrians? And how is it that we don’t indulge in any of these if we happen to be in a foreign country like the US or UK or Singapore? In particular, the attitude of the youth who can even think of such a thing as a ‘drag race’ in the centre of a busy city is something that needs to be seriously investigated by psychologists.

This also brings into question our educational system, which produces brilliant individuals but fails to inculcate basic human values. The most important value for any human being should be respect for human life, and concern for safety stems from this value. The driver of a vehicle knocking off Arun Kumar because he stood in the way of his race is as abominable as a person shooting Jessica Lal because he was denied a drink.

Both the police officer and the bartending girl were doing their duty; in fact, they were trying to enforce the rules meant to ensure safety of the public at large. And, tragically, both paid with their lives. While Jessica Lal’s case has roused the conscience of the people through the media, no such thing has happened in Arun Kumar’s case. The one is as much a cold-blooded murder as the other. Should we wait for justice to fail in the latter’s case before we raise our voice?

Accidents occur not so much on account of ignorance but because of thoughtlessness, carelessness and insensitivity towards the safety of others. Stress on Safety should begin at school and continue through college to the work places. This is bound to go a long way in promoting traffic discipline and along with effective enforcement of traffic regulations will help reduce accidents. The right to life has little meaning unless life is safe. Right to Safety is, therefore, as important as Right to Life.