Driving on the wrong side (contd)

On Sep 6th, I was driving back from Medak on NH7, a well-paved 4-lane divided super highway. Guess what, there was a white Indica crushed completely in the fast lane on the wrong side of the road. I doubt the driver survived. Nonetheless, it left me with a feeling of sadness. I admit I get frazzled when I have to face someone on the road driving with impunity, but more often than not, I wish I can do something to make them aware; the problem, as we all know, is as much due to ignorance as much as law.

I appreciate the effort you have showed in sharing your thoughts. What I need from you now is to spread the word. Get you kith and kin involved in this campaign. I want to see 1000 pledges by the end of 2009. So, please take a moment and evangelize.

Driving on the wrong side

As you might have read in the news recently, India has the highest number of deaths caused by road accidents. Not just because it has more people on the road. There is little value for human life on the roads, in both the public and the administration eyes. Plenty of evidence of that in the abundant pot holes and callous disregard of pedestrians to name a silly few. Some of these can be mitigated by appropiate laws and enforcement. But I don't think we need to wait. It is in our powers to make a positive impact.

The first issue in my mind is the absolutely senseless act of driving on the wrong side of the road that is practised by so many. It is not about left-hand verus right-hand side of the road [smile]. I am talking about driving against on-coming traffic on the wrong side of a divided road.

It is frustrating at the least; unbelievably dangerous at worst. I see the irrevocable damage once a while; and feel the skipping heart beat way more often. I come across drivers in all types of vehicles doing this. In my kind moods, I can sympathise (a bit) with a poor auto-rickshaw driver who is trying to save every penny and wants to take the short-cut to his destination and avoids the trip to the long U-turn. But, what about  people like us? In the vicinity of Hi-tech city, I bet the percentage of educated Indians is above the country average. Yet, you see so many cars, bikes on the wrong side. Every single day. Every one does it with abandon. Some do it with zeal; especially the speeding bikers entering the flyovers on the fast lane, of course, from the wrong direction.

To be honest, in the last 9 months of driving in Hyderabad, I have been tempted to go the other side on two occasions (early morning, empty road, in a hurry etc). I am glad and lucky I did not. Talking about it openly has made me more aware of the problem. And I hope I remain without breaking this code, at least not consciously. My buddies taunt me for skipping a round-about a few days back when making a right turn while they were riding with me. I had my excuse (road work), but nonetheless, they were right - there was ample space around and I chose not to. Thanks to them, I have not repeated that.

I invite you, my friend, to tell yourself and the world that you will drive on the right side; don't stick to the prevailing notion that where you drive is the right way. Pause every time you have the urge to cut to the wrong side. And get a few of your friends and family (esp. kids) to pledge.

Click on the comments link below to declare your intent. 

Safe driving!

Let us fix things together

We are not perfect. Can we ever be? I don't know. But, we can attempt to eliminate our foibles at every possible occasion. Especially those that will make living a better experience for all. Such measures, if done often and with determination, are likely to become a habit.

A big part of making it happen lies in conscious self-coaching. For example, when you are throwing or hitting a ball, the coach advises follow-through. But you have to work at it; remind yourself to do it. Then over time, it becomes part of the routine.

Another aspect is public proclamation. My view is that by stating intent, you get the support of real friends (example: AA). And you are more motivated to conduct yourself privately in accordance with the public statement (anti-example: politicians).

I am hoping that by providing a forum to declare a desire to improve things in our society, you will contribute to the betterment of our immediate neighborhood; if not always, at least most of the time. We change the world slowly, steadily, one person at a time.

The idea is that you will author a signed declaration on this blog (in the form of a comment) stating your affirmation of some social issue discussed here. Then, I hope, you will pause and reflect on this whenever you are tempted to commit that silly faux-pas. And that you will rope in a few of your friends to do the same. Soon, like a well-executed networking marketing scheme, we will be busy making this world better.

Silly idea? May be. Will it work? May be. May be not. But I want to give it a shot. I hope you will join me too. If this catches on, I will explore the idea of moving to a real website. A couple of friends have already expressed interest to help; there are some interesting ideas to experiment.