Lack of road sense is a major cause for accidents

Lack of road sense is a major cause for accidents
The Hindu

Senior officials feel that more than enforcement, holding traffic education programmes in a big way is the need of the hour

WITH THE number of road accidents in the city rising over the years, there has been a general impression that the agencies concerned, particularly the traffic police, have not taken steps to prevent them.

But, an analysis of the causes for road accidents, fatal as well as non-fatal, reveal that it is drivers and pedestrians who have been largely responsible for these accidents. The large number of cases booked by the traffic police shows that many Bangloreans lacked basic road sense.

In the last three years the police have booked around 35 lakh cases for various traffic violations such as reckless driving, drunken driving, over speeding, driving without licence, driving on no-entry roads, jumping signals and haphazard parking.

According to senior police officials connected with traffic management, drunken driving, over speeding, lane indiscipline, haphazard parking, crossing roads in a zigzag manner and lack of training in driving are the major causes for road accidents.

The police say that more than 60 per cent of road accidents that occur between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. are because of drunken driving. The Regional Transport Office (RTO) should be strict in issuing licences as untrained drivers cause many accidents. The defects in the licence issuing system should be set right first as any one can manage to get a driving licence today, they say.

Dangerous driving, such as over taking in the wrong direction, zigzag driving, going against the flow of traffic and speaking over mobile phones while driving also cause accidents, the police say.

Haphazard parking at junctions often leads to blocking of view and impairs a driver's judgement, resulting in an accident. Pedestrians, who are the major victims of the accidents, also endanger their lives, as often they walk on the roads and not on the footpaths, the police say.

Pedestrians cross roads even at places where there are no zebra crossings. The drivers do not expect pedestrian movement at such places and thus are not in a position to take immediate action to prevent an accident, they say.

Though the absence of road sense has been a major cause for accidents, this aspect is not properly reflected in accident records.

Senior officials are of the view that more than enforcement, holding traffic education programmes in a big way is the need of the hour.