It’s almost a year since Union Minister Gopinath Munde died in a road accident and the country saw a flurry of statements and promises from authorities about radical steps being taken to curb road accidents. We are yet to see those steps, which, incidentally, are even talked about only if someone as high as a minister dies. Ordinary folks keep getting killed or maimed from road accidents in this land at the rate of at least one person per minute of our existence, which raises no eyebrows. Nothing – no epidemic, no war, no terrorist strike, no earthquake, no tsunami or any other catastrophe – claims so many lives and limbs as this menace does. As a matter of fact, the number of fatalities from road accidents will far outnumber the deaths from all other causes put together. And those who die on the roads aren’t the old or infirm, in most instances they are the bread winners of their families. Why are we then silent about this terrible killer? There is only one answer – our national trait of complacence; absolute refusal to face a problem squarely.
Let us look at the government initiatives over the years to tackle the problem. The foremost are the periodic amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act championed by our distinguished babudom; bureaucratic masterpieces as panacea for all our woes concerning road safety.
Unfortunately anyone who had the misfortune of going through these pieces of bizarre legalese are likely to be more confounded than being caught up in chaotic traffic. Other than reiterating archaic rules – one goes on to fill an entire page on how to hold the steering wheel – with absolutely no objectivity, they do little to enhance road safety. Then we have the exercise in eye wash that comes year after year called ‘Road Safety Week’, which is forgotten even before it is over. Sometime during the last year or so the Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways had called for applications for financial assistance – presumably a grant – from NGOs capable of, and prepared to, impart training to heavy motor vehicle drivers. No one knows what came out of it. There was even talk of ‘foreign expertise’ being brought in to make our roads safe. Can’t we, supposed to be an emerging global power, even look after our traffic problems!
We can; but it’s no small matter that can be taken care of by an odd training scheme or awareness campaign here and there. Whoever conceived the idea that dishing out some funds to some organizations to impart ‘refresher training’ to drivers would help curb the road accidents to any respectable extent, must either be joking or be far removed from reality; most likely the latter. The point is we have to fight this menace, not by half-hearted exercises but by solid well-planned initiatives, if we are to make some headway.
A holistic approach towards high levels of road safety must primarily address the two key issues of training and licensing of the drivers and enforcement of traffic rules. While the government should do everything within its capability to promote quality driver training, that alone would barely be of any value unless coupled with strict licensing norms. The driver licensing system we have at the moment is as good as having none. A driving license is often easier to get than a ration card. The Regional Transport Offices which handle the driver licensing are invariably under-staffed (besides their dubious distinction of being branded among the most corrupt government outfits). A Motor Vehicle Inspector can hardly be expected to carry out any proper test even if he wants to, given the number of candidates he is often landed with. And touts rule the roost.
This just will not do. The only way to clean up the act will be to take the driver licensing completely off the charge of the Transport Departments of individual states, and bring it under a central authority constituted of qualified professionals exclusively for the task. Driver testing and licensing all over India should be made a periodic affair when a visiting team of officers from the central authority would conduct the tests, pretty much similar to the competitive exams being conducted by various boards. These tests could probably be conducted at district level once every month or so, with provision for range and other standard testing facilities which the individual RTOs currently lack.
The revamping of the system on these lines however could only help inasmuch as the injection of fresh blood goes. The fresh entrants, howsoever well trained, tested and motivated they are, would soon be polluted beyond redemption and find themselves a part of the existing anarchy on the roads, unless simultaneous measures are undertaken to discipline the road users as a whole to adhere to the traffic rules. Enforcement with a big E is what we need. All that’s required is the judicious utilization of the available manpower and resources with the enforcement agencies towards this end.
The only major exercise we see the traffic police undertaking in this sphere is clearing the road for the VIP convoys; unmindful of the traffic snarls it creates, and as if we, the commoners, don’t pay the road tax. More often than not the cops remain mute spectators as drivers violate the rules with impunity. A far too common spectacle on the roads –especially urban ones – is the traffic cops ‘checking’ the two-wheelers; apparently for the validity of driving licences and other documents; which makes one wonder what the cops are primarily on the roads for – whether to check documents (which should be the transport department’s headache) or to enforce traffic discipline?
Once again, if we want positive results, we need a dynamic programme. The first and the most significant requirement is to have intensive highway patrolling and speed checks. Violations of speed limits should never go unchecked. In India no deterrent works as good as assured penalty. The patrols must always carry breath analyzers, and any driver found under the influence of alcohol, should be right away taken off the wheel and brought to book.
If over-speeding and drunken driving are the main evils on the highways, road rage and sheer disregard of the traffic rules are the main culprits within the cities. The biggest menace is the lack of – or even total ignorance of – lane discipline. The auto-rickshaw drivers, the worst offenders of this kind, keep weaving left, right and centre through the thick of the traffic with total abandon. Indeed the situation looks hopeless; but if only those responsible applied their minds, the problem isn’t all that insurmountable. A system was tried in Chennai to segregate the lanes for different category of vehicles which yielded no visible results. The universally accepted 3-lane system – of the fast, middle and the slow lanes – is quite adequate to handle any kind of traffic, as long as there is no indiscriminate shifting of the lanes. The sensible – and far easier, cheaper and manageable – thing to do would be to have speed cops patrolling the main thoroughfares constantly. Any vehicle abruptly shifting the lane causing obstruction to the traffic flow should be followed, made to pull up immediately and booked. The same should apply for drivers who use cell phones while driving – a modern addition to our indiscipline. Do that for a week and few drivers would fancy shifting the lane, even if the cops are not there once in a while.
The measures suggested herein are merely common-sense approaches that hardly involve any major outlay. Far more can be improvised if there is a resolve to take the bull by the horn. No doubt we need extensive improvement of road network and other infrastructure to sustain the tremendous explosion of the automobile population taking place; but that shouldn’t stop us from doing whatever could be done. It is inconceivable that no government has so far found it necessary to positively address an issue of such magnitude. Neither have any celebrities or social activists found road safety an attractive theme to promote. The reason is obvious; it’s not a fashionable subject that can kick up hype or add to the TRP like a political or sex scandal, neither can it be resolved by lip service or donations; it calls for an entire archaic system to be revamped and remodelled to suit the need of the day. The sooner we do it, the lesser lives we lose.
About the Author
Capt. D P Ramachandran, besides being a former army officer and military history enthusiast, is a road safety educationalist, having been the key person responsible for setting up the MRF Institute of Driver Development, the pioneer institutition in India to take up truck driver training on scientific lines.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Newskarnataka.com and Newskarnataka.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same
