Recently, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway has been in the news for the wrong reasons. Entire families have lost their lives and there are many more who've been injured.
The increasing fatalities on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway have been attributed to over-speeding,frequent lane changing and reckless driving. All of the above is true, but there is one reason that has been missed out and an important one that too.
Lane discipline: I am not talking about small car drivers changing lanes...that's already been acknowledged. Here I am talking about Heavy vehicles particularly Trucks,trailers,tempos and the likes. Hogging all the lanes on the express highway is what they do!They do this much to the chagrin of car drivers who are then compelled to either trail these huge iron monsters at the speed of 20 kms per hr or then try to squeeze through whatever little space risking dear life. Overtaking then becomes rampant as there is a traffic build up and every car driver is trying to outdo the other to go ahead.The fear of getting stuck in a jam behind an overloaded truck compels even meek drivers like me to join the rat race.
What is even more scary is that on fairly steep slopes there is an overloaded truck making strange screeching noises going backwards rather than forwards and there is no way to escape because there is bumper to bumper traffic behind. I have experienced all of this making my driving less pleasurable and one that is filled with stress. Once I was stuck in a jam alongside many others because 3 trailers decided to hijack all the lanes and while they were at it, They suddenly broke down in a staggered manner on a slope just a little before the Lonavala exit.What then! We were stuck for over an hr. till the traffic cops got the traffic moving through a small lane which was really the shoulder.
What is the solution to this? Most countries internationally have rules wherein heavy vehicles have to drive strictly in the third lane. I have noticed this message on a random board or two alongside the expressway and that too in english. I wonder if they are able to read these at all. Why can't these boards be in hindi/ marathi?
Once we talk to them in their language they will follow what is being told. Those who despite this continue to break the law need to be heavily penalized.
There also needs to be an overall public awareness of how to share the road safely with large trucks and vice-a-versa.Untill then, I wish everyone a Safe Drive.
Article on Mumbai Pune Expressway
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/More-blood-on-expressway/articleshow/7449523.cms
Showing posts with label accidents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label accidents. Show all posts
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Whose road is it anyway??
Recently, I joined the bandwagon and took to owning a vehicle and even driving it myself. This is one of the most perilous decisions I've taken. Why? Simple, in our country the onus of the pedestrian safety lies on the vehicle driver. Check the recent and significant judgement, the Bombay High Court has held that in case of an accident even if a pedestrian is negligent while crossing road, the driver of the vehicle is liable to pay the compensation to him or his family members.
Fraught with the fear and burden of being responsible for some strangers lives apart from the co-passengers whom I put under great duress. I drive only in the first or maximum second gear. Now this maybe civil in a crowded area which constitutes most parts of the city. It also makes me realise that pedestrians walk alongside my car and maybe move faster ahead.Maybe it is because they are carefree and even if they bump into strangers, at best they would apologise and move on. But if my car bumps into another car there will be an ugly spat,abuses will be hurled,etc. That's still a very acceptable situation god forbid if I slightly brush against a human I'd could even get beaten up,I would be asked to pay an unreasonable compensation even if it wasn't my fault and people were almost climbing on top of my car to get ahead.
One would reason that in crowded areas, narrow alleyways there are no pedestrian pathways. Why blame people when they are also subjected to risking their life and taking to the roads. All right, I cannot blame pedestrians here. Afterall I've been there not too long ago. Between the perennial construction work in Mumbai, hawkers and innumerable rickshawallas elbowing each other and other vehicles the poor pedestrian finds a place and squeezes himself/ herself to continue moving ahead.
But then what about wider roads, national highways, traffic signals etc. Do pedestrians follow the signals that have been made for their safety? Not always, many times even after the signal has turned green people continue to run like lunatics to cross the road.On national highways it is common to see people jumping from nowhere onto the highway to cross over. In a free country like ours, Jaywalking is not just restricted to humans. One could even encounter a herd of cows, a stray dog, maybe even an elephant who hogs the road ambling away at it's own pace(which is better than the elephant running amok anyways)...
So do we accept that Jaywalkers are here to stay or is this going to change? Well the good news is that there are awareness drives that the traffic cops have conducted one of them was outside CST where people who were crossing the road outside CST station, unmindful of traffic rules and were penalised for it. More such awareness drives need to be conducted across India, especially with the vehicular traffic growing faster than the infrastructure itself. I for one vouch for such a drive because until I took to the wheel I pretty much was clueless that such a word "Jaywalking" even existed. To make these drives successful there could be a PPP (Public Private Partnership) where the Traffic police jointly with auto companies create an awareness building campaign. This could be a great Branding initiative under the Corporate Social Responsibility angle. Are any Auto companies listening??
A few other things include signages which markout the vehicular traffic area from pedestrian walkways.Going forward one could also consider implementing a law that would compel people to follow the rules for their own safety and that of the vehicle driver.
Sources:http://www.zeenews.com/news566854.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/35-jaywalkers-end-up-in-fine-trouble-outside-CST/articleshow/4979622.cms
Fraught with the fear and burden of being responsible for some strangers lives apart from the co-passengers whom I put under great duress. I drive only in the first or maximum second gear. Now this maybe civil in a crowded area which constitutes most parts of the city. It also makes me realise that pedestrians walk alongside my car and maybe move faster ahead.Maybe it is because they are carefree and even if they bump into strangers, at best they would apologise and move on. But if my car bumps into another car there will be an ugly spat,abuses will be hurled,etc. That's still a very acceptable situation god forbid if I slightly brush against a human I'd could even get beaten up,I would be asked to pay an unreasonable compensation even if it wasn't my fault and people were almost climbing on top of my car to get ahead.
One would reason that in crowded areas, narrow alleyways there are no pedestrian pathways. Why blame people when they are also subjected to risking their life and taking to the roads. All right, I cannot blame pedestrians here. Afterall I've been there not too long ago. Between the perennial construction work in Mumbai, hawkers and innumerable rickshawallas elbowing each other and other vehicles the poor pedestrian finds a place and squeezes himself/ herself to continue moving ahead.
But then what about wider roads, national highways, traffic signals etc. Do pedestrians follow the signals that have been made for their safety? Not always, many times even after the signal has turned green people continue to run like lunatics to cross the road.On national highways it is common to see people jumping from nowhere onto the highway to cross over. In a free country like ours, Jaywalking is not just restricted to humans. One could even encounter a herd of cows, a stray dog, maybe even an elephant who hogs the road ambling away at it's own pace(which is better than the elephant running amok anyways)...
So do we accept that Jaywalkers are here to stay or is this going to change? Well the good news is that there are awareness drives that the traffic cops have conducted one of them was outside CST where people who were crossing the road outside CST station, unmindful of traffic rules and were penalised for it. More such awareness drives need to be conducted across India, especially with the vehicular traffic growing faster than the infrastructure itself. I for one vouch for such a drive because until I took to the wheel I pretty much was clueless that such a word "Jaywalking" even existed. To make these drives successful there could be a PPP (Public Private Partnership) where the Traffic police jointly with auto companies create an awareness building campaign. This could be a great Branding initiative under the Corporate Social Responsibility angle. Are any Auto companies listening??
A few other things include signages which markout the vehicular traffic area from pedestrian walkways.Going forward one could also consider implementing a law that would compel people to follow the rules for their own safety and that of the vehicle driver.
Sources:http://www.zeenews.com/news566854.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/35-jaywalkers-end-up-in-fine-trouble-outside-CST/articleshow/4979622.cms
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