Road Accidents

Road accident is most unwanted thing to happen to a road user, though they happen quite often. The most unfortunate thing is that we don’t learn from our mistakes on road. Road accidents, being the biggest cause of deaths every year, as thousands of lives are lost all over the world. Time and again, horror stories of tragic accidents pop up everywhere, some fall due to their own negligence, while others fall prey to other’s faults. After all the blame game a life is lost and that is the saddest part. Some families loose their sole bread earner, while some loose their only child and in the worst case scenario whole family is lost. If we look at the statistics on yearly basis, in our valley an unfortunate spike in the cases of accidents is occurring year after the year, which surely is a cause of worry. The more the rise in transport, the more accidents occur. The causes and factors are humongous, if we begin to point out flaws and shortcomings, all that is useless, untill acted upon. Responsibility lies on everyone, be it a driver, a pedestrian, a traffic cop, road operators or the license issuer. Somehow everyone is responsible. Rash driving, over speeding, unnecessary overtaking, stunt show casing, using mobile phones while driving, being impatient and most importantly not obeying traffic rules and regulations, all these faults lie on our side and not on the government agencies, where solely we have the control over these things and if obeyed these are not a big thing to deal with, instead our arrogance and carelessness gets better of us. Young , immature and under age children driving fast and speedy bikes/cars is another point to look at and that responsibility lies on their parents. I believe if a responsible parent loves his child, he surely would refrain from providing these bikes, to an underage child, which is full of risk. How can one justify this love where he is forcing his child closer to death? The result tells us all where a large number of families have lost their only eye, only because of this fast and rash driving. Certain procedures have been set up by the government before you are allowed to drive anything, particularly age bar. However sadly in our valley all Competition within society is a big Cancer, where if ignorantly someone is doing wrong, race is such everyone must follow it without taking the repercussions into account.
Our life, belongings and time , these are valuable assets, let’s restrain from wrongdoings and drive responsibly after all a disciplined life is for everyone’s well being.
On the flip side government institutions are not doing their duty properly, which indirectly is responsible for these accidents. They have to be held accountable for some reasons. Raising awareness through different platforms is good, but what actually the demand is implementation. We all are aware how through brokers and agents one can easily get the driving license, despite failing in the driving test. I hold a view that, the basic fault lies here where without having an iota of knowledge, one can get access to the wheel. Over Speeding, a common cause of accidents can be minimised to a greater extent by using speed meters, as is the case in foreign countries simply because modern problems require modern solutions. Another aspect is to check the fitness of ageing vehicles and tyres, where driver’s often get away by paying bribe. We all know how dangerous it is to drive through terrains and hilly areas, given the geography of our valley, All this if looked into and followed in letter and spirit can be helpful in evading these unfortunate accidents. Strict implementation of rules is the need of hour. The Srinagar Jammu highway has become another headache particularly for the people of valley, where often threat of landslides is looming, espacially during winters. People often on account of bribe drive through this perilous road, even when prohibited. How many lives are consumed every year on that stretch, everyone is aware of that. Worsening road condition and landslides, are most dangerous threats. The extension project was taken long ago, but the work is going on at snail’s pace, nobody knows when is that project going to be completed.
Tailpiece: We must obey all the rules and regulations in letter and spirit and set an example to be followed by everyone. Let we bring about the change, that everyone is aspiring for. Our life, belongings and time , these are valuable assets, let’s restrain from wrongdoings and drive responsibly after all a disciplined life is for everyone’s well being.
(Author is a student of Mechanical Engineering. Views are his own)
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