Last Friday while returning from my office, I witnessed a tragic road accident, perhaps a hit and run case. The crowd was swarming around a biker who was lying unconscious flat on the road and his helmet crashed to pieces besides him. A moment later an ambulance arrived but it looked like the damage was beyond repair and unthinkable was inevitable for the young biker. These days it has become so easy to run over a common man or being run over by somebody in the capricious crowded streets of metro cities. Road accidents are on the rise, proving to be fatal and are threatening to reach alarming proportions. Unending streams of rucks, cars, buses and two wheelers can be found overtaking each other in the peak hours of the day, I myself came close to hitting a girl who was speeding on the wrong side of the road.
While probing the reasons for the rash behavior, I came across an interesting cogent analysis arrived at through a research carried out by a group of MBA graduates. Driving under the influence of alcohol can neither be condoned nor forgiven but, is indulgence in drinking the only reason for reckless driving especially amongst the youths. Perhaps not, a desire to impress the opposite sex and peer pressure are considered to be the other primary drivers for the act, a recent survey done by a group of XLRI MBA graduates elicited this finding. As per the empirical analysis in the report, out of all the casualties caused, 33% involve teenagers and a drive to impress the opposite sex and competing with their counterparts are considered to be a major factors in committing the act. The findings in the report delineate that two wheeler accidents have increased by 11% in the last 3 years, most of these fledgeling teenagers don't carry a valid driving license. We shouldn't get duped by this insanity which is so prevalent, driving fast in no means should be misconstrued as an indicative of positive attitude towards life.
Let us discuss the counter measures of tackling the insanity of rash driving. In a state of anarchy, the rash driving has a lot to do with the lack of speed monitoring cameras in the cities, all the major junctions must have a surveillance camera in place to monitor and track down the rash drivers. Hit and run cases need to be catered to immediately unlike the infamous BMW case which as been pending for more than a decade now. Perhaps dual-coded signals which delineate a tragic accident would be more impactful especially for the youth community. Hefty fines for the rule flaunting defaulters and banners of gory pictures are useful measures that can bring some decorum and prove deterrent to the rate of road accidents.
