For me driving is not only a necessity but a passion too. The rate of accidents in our country is increasing alarmingly. Every day when we open the news paper or the television one or other accident cases are reported. So are the drivers the sole responsible? Honestly I don’t think so. The civic authorities are as much responsible for this mess as much the drivers are.
Ever wondered why these lorry and bus drivers fail to switch of the high beam light even if you do so. It is very frustrating to see that case because most of the drivers will be blanked for one or two seconds when this high beam penetrates their eye. These one or two seconds is enough to cause a major accident. There is a campaign initiated by NDTV where we can take a pledge that we will use high beam whenever and wherever it is necessary only. To make the matter worse there will be no street lights along the road. Many major accidents in India are caused due to the absence of lights. Any driver will agree with me that it is much easier and safer to drive when there are lights on the side of the road. If there are lights the problem of high beam will be partially solved. Unfortunately there are very few lights installed along the highways in Kerala and even if there is one it will be fused. There is also a problem of pocket roads where the people coming from there will get into the highways suddenly and most of the time will meet up with an accident. In express highways like Mumbai-Pune they have limited pocket roads along the side of the express ways. It is not feasible to apply that along national highways in Kerala but various measures like speed breakers could be applied on the tip of pocket roads. Another problem is that of over speeding. Speed limit on the national highway is seventy km/hr but hardly anyone will follow that rule because of the new advanced engine. The smooth rubberized roads also account for faster driving, but the fact is that most drivers are incapable on reflexes and even if you have ABS it will be difficult to avoid an accident. Moreover sudden overtaking and turning of cars and rickshaws will also cause abrupt accidents. Most of the drivers will not use hand signal nowadays and will even forget to put the light signal as well. If we look carefully none of the route buses will have a proper tail lamp cluster, wither I will be broke or will be completely absent. Kudos to our police officials for ragging a poor bike rider without helmet and instead of these irresponsible bus and lorry drivers who breaks the law in blind day light. Speaking of bus drivers, it seems that they are descendants of Schumacher or Alonso racing neck to neck picking up as much travelers as quickly. The state of our road also is another culprit. If you simply travel from Kannur to Calicut, it would be surprising if you don’t get a back pain. Such is the condition of roads that you tend to mistake pot holes for ponds in some areas. These authorities always do the patching up of roads which will be not enough as they tend to wear out after each monsoon. So unless we all unite against these problems these accidents news will continue to meet your eyes every time you open up a news paper.
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