world day for rememberance of road traffic victims - november 18th

[narayan]

Dear Fellow BHPIANS

I came to know from TOI that y'day was celebrated the world over as "World day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims "

The article also went on to say that India with one of the highest deaths under the above category was the country where this day was hardly observed !!

some facts as per the article
1) 12 lakh people die in road accidents the world over per annum
2) 8% of that number comes from India - thats 11 people every hour !

factors attributed to such a high figure
1) poor roads/infrastructure
2)poor traffic etiquette (traffic sense )

the way i see it - with improving infrastructure and probably NO IMPROVEMENT in traffic etiquette, the above number is bound to go up dramatically !! in that sense, i would prefer the infrastructure keeps pace with the level of traffic education - rather than blindly have a lot of good roads...

a drive in any of our new NHs will prove this point..
1) absolute lack of lane discipline
2) no knowledge of signals to be used
3) slalom racing in the highways
4) low speed traffic sticking to the right most lanes
5) using the wrong side just to make it to the nearest U turn!!

even in a city like Gurgaon where i see the roads are much wider than Chennai, the lack of traffic etiquette means its more a pain to have such wide roads than anything else...

i think as a community , we have expressed out views strongly on these issues in the FORUM..

probably this is a day when we could put it to action on the roads by following some simple steps...

1) drive at rational speeds
2) give way to an oncoming vehicle in a junction even if we were to reach the junction before him
3) slow down for cyclists, pedestrians even if they are on your way
4) ignore show offs in the road and simply give them way
5) not to jump a red signal or take a U turn where it does not exist
6) park your car in such a way not to obstruct traffic
7) take all safety precautions for self like seat belts
8) NEVER SPEAK ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE WITHOUT A HEAD SET - its so rampant out here in Gurgaon!!

lets take this pledge and probably, the roads would be a much better place to drive ( EVEN IF INFRASTRUCTURE DOES NOT IMPROVE - which i think is to a lesser extent in OUR control than the above )

Regards

[diabloo]

Don't hesitate to help the accident victims