Road Safety Day

The Road Safety Day was observed yesterday with the advocacy groups making a fresh pledge to eliminate the risk factors; some of which are very potent in our context. Highway accidents account for the bulk of the victims, though road safety is still a far cry even in the cities.

There is the perennial problem of traffic rules violation. A huge number of vehicles operating on long routes lack fitness, which is a grave risk factor. Again, the vehicles are driven in many instances by inexperienced drivers or even helpers. The problems that such vehicles can cause to others and to themselves need no elaboration. The tendency to deploy raw drivers seems to increase before major festivals when people rush back to their village homes and the transport companies have to raise the frequency of bus trips.

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The ramshackle vehicles coupled with the inexperienced drivers can indeed pose a serious danger to passengers. Regrettably, the point has been made in countless seminars and meetings, but the situation remains more or less unchanged.

Apart from human errors and trouble caused by utter disregard for rules, there are certain structural limitations which need to be addressed. The highways have been smoothened and widened across places, but they are not even two-lane, properly speaking.

The condition of roads is also a source of worry. For example, the city roads have cracks and potholes in many places and water-logging is a regular sight. Bridges and culverts in parts of highways are also in bad shape, on particularly the roads connecting small towns.

Apart from the fatalities, road accidents cripple a large number of people who ultimately become a social burden. So, it is a crying need of the hour that efforts are made to enhance road safety. The organisers of the day should concentrate on creating the conditions in which nobody would be able to get away with violation of traffic rules in any form. It must also be ensured that the victims of road accidents, or their families, get due compensation -- an issue which hasn't yet received the attention it deserves.