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!
Posts
I agree! Most of us are tempted to cut to the wrong side :( ... But till date, I haven't done it once :-))
ReplyDeleteYes i agree that i have been driving at times on the worng side but never so far created any traffic jams because of the my driving skills , at times I cleared the traffic jams as well .
ReplyDeleteBut I shall try my best to follow traffic rules
Yup ! Will never do that which i rarely did till now.
ReplyDeleteCheers !
I agree totally!!! I did couple of times last year, will never do it again :)
ReplyDeleteI agree to that. Thou I have been done that a couple of time...but will try not to repeat it in future :)
ReplyDeleteI agree and pledge I will not do wrong side driving -- G.B.Srinivasa Rao
ReplyDeleteWell i do get angry and disturbed to see accidents with people just breaking the rule with impunity wrt to wrong side driving, especially when there is a divider and it is definitely possible to follow rules.
ReplyDeleteI believe we should implement a 'tool' i have been discussing with you and others during our lunch conversations and causing their vehicle tyre to get punctured. Of course this may cause some inconvenience initially but will hopefully deter others from cutting corners.
What do ya think?
- Ravi
i've not done it yet and will not to do it in future too. its scary enough to see others do it. why risk our lives? its not worth the time we save or (for a few ) the thrill they get.
ReplyDeleteI am going to translate your msg in tamil and give it to the drivers in green peace travels.
ReplyDeleteEARNARST
@Kutty (Earnarst) - I think it is a FANTASTIC idea. I wonder if I can convince someone to do the same in telugu here locally. Make sure you two print both the blog entries (Let us fix it together and Driving on the Wrong side). A suggestion - print 2/3 copies and pin it on the notice boards instead of making umpteen prints :).
ReplyDelete@Sri (Dinavahi) - I saw your reference to the "smack the head" HT campaign; although I feel exactly like it says, I have been instead trying (although not always successfully) to smile or plead when I have the opportunity to roll down the window and converse. It has a slightly better success rate.
Of course, we all agree that deterrence and enforcement are essential components and I hope that we can incite some action on that part soon.
Whenever (if at all) I happen to drive in India, I will make sure to drive on the "right" side(sorry the left side)!
ReplyDelete