On eve of the marriage ceremony of their relative in Poonch, the close family members were happily traveling in sumo and singing along with the tunes played by the driver.
A sudden bang and the sumo crashed down into 300 feet deep gorge killing nine people and critically injuring four. The sumo with a seating capacity of just nine is overloaded with 13 people.
Road accidents are nowadays actually inevitable. The news about road accident deaths trickles, almost every day. The data compiled by the Traffic Police department reveals that Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 713 road accident deaths and 6447 injuries in the first ten months of the year 2021.
Experts say that the number of injured persons would be much higher because many road traffic accidents remain unreported.
The reasons for road traffic accidents are manifold. The main is a lack of check on the number of cars for one household. People are adding newer cars to their collection while the roads are the same, especially in cities and towns.
Drivers have turned more careless; least bothering about traffic rules. The overcrowded roads and reckless driving is imposing a safety threat even to pedestrians.
The onus of road traffic accidents can’t be put entirely on administration and traffic managers. It is more a responsibility of every person driving any kind of transport; besides passengers and pedestrians on the roads.
Every time road accident deaths take place, the response typically starts with condolences to the bereaved, complaints about rash driving and overload; and condemnations for bad roads and potholes.
This process ends with ex-gratia announced for the next of kin. And then nothing is dredged up till any more deaths occur due to road accidents.
Undeniably, road traffic accidents comprise the hazards of driving and we can’t stop mishaps. However, both administration and people can modify and rationalise their approach, to decrease the number and level of human loss in road traffic accidents.
We need to understand that roads can’t be widened overnight. Potholes can’t be filled everywhere. A very easy and simple measure by any driver would be careful driving with patience and responsibility.
Another issue is of overloading the public transport with passengers. For the sake of a few more bucks, the drivers put the lives of many people at risk. Primarily, the drivers should load their vehicles with the number of passengers permitted and if by some means the driver is loading more passengers, the people on board should object to overloading the vehicle. This issue needs to be taken seriously both by the people and the administration.
Using mobile phones while driving is a big menace. There are many drivers who even text while driving, not to speak of talking on the phone. Youngsters are seen driving with rage with high pitched music in their cars; and performing fatal stunts on their bikes.
Even the way they meander through traffic jams is death-defying. The concept of helmet wearing is outmoded. There is a dire need to orient youngsters through awareness programmes.
Counsel them about road safety. In fact, all categories of drivers—men as well as women—need a consultation about safe driving. The way people drive here reveals their ignorance about proper rules of driving, besides raising concern about license-issuing procedures.
The knee-jerk reaction to road accidents is not going to help. We need to act before harrowing road traffic accident deaths become a new normal. The administration needs to put in place a robust mechanism to check on the threat of overcrowding of public transport, especially in remote areas. In cities and towns, traffic needs to be managed with enthusiasm and spirit beyond the ‘VIP movement’.
There should be a check on the number of cars that a household can acquire. The number of vehicles on roads has to regulate fairly, without any nexus with financial guarantors or automobile brokers. The odd-even scheme can also help in rationalising traffic movement with exemption to essential services including school transportation.
As for Srinagar city, the exponential increase in the number of registered vehicles has contributed to the further worsening of the transport scenario. With no widening of roads, additional flyovers or ring roads, multitudes of man-hours are wasted by commuters in extended traffic jams daily.
With no proper strategy for managing increasing tourist footfall, Srinagar roads are choking into a frenzied nuisance. Congested roads, inadequate parking spaces, encroachments by shopkeepers, unauthorised parking alongside the busy roads, raring to go drivers and slapdash pedestrians—all have turned Srinagar city into a noisy hellhole.
They say roads were made for journeys, not destinations. But what when our roads lead us to an excruciating eternal edge for lack of our sensibility and judgment?!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK