Risks that People take on the Roads and get away but how long and why should they ?
During the last couple of weeks , I have been more irritated than ever, to see people do what they do on the road, largely unmindful of the risk that they take and the hazard they create not only to themselves but to others on the road.
Reason for the irritation was because of the data that I looked at . The data is compelling . Chennai has the highest road accidents in 2011 – leaving close to 7900 injured and that includes around 1600 females. The trend for 2012 is on the wrong side as well.
I travel on certain routes on a daily basis and can write about the risk, that people create unmindful of the trouble that they can get in to…. It is just not a ticket or a fine but it is a fact that, they can get injured or cause injuries to others.
First is the right turn from KB Dasan Road to TTK road- there is a Neat Board that says’ No Right Turn’. People take the right turn all the time , unless there is a Cop monitoring the traffic. Some people take the right turn even when the Cop is around and give him dirty looks if he tries to stop them or redirects them correctly and at times there is a small chase but the offender does what he wants. The risk that people take is that people driving down TTK road towards the Music Academy side do not expect someone to come in from KB Dasan Road ( SIET road ) and many a time collusions have been avoided by a whisker.
Is there no other way to get to TTK Road? Yes , alternate route is available but it will take 700 meters more to drive , some waiting time .You may be delayed overall but not more than 5 minutes— Five minutes risk to these people is probably easier to take than the life they want to live !
Other routes that I watch – is the flyover leading from Kottupuram ( Turnbulls road ) in to Chamiers and down to Mount road. The flyover itself is narrow—Some people overtake on the wrong side and since the flyover curves out, visibility is poor but that does not prevent them from doing the overtaking.. again many near misses everyday .. and on top of that , at the end of the flyover, you will see three to four two wheelers waiting to cross the road like Pedestrians—they cannot go down the lane and take a U turn.. they will take the risk of driving against the ongoing traffic— they do not realize not only they stand being hit head on but any evasive action by the person coming correctly can result in an accident on his side !
And people take risks all the time - the places that I have mentioned are just a sample of what happens on a daily basis in Chennai. This must be happening all over the city leading to so many reported accidents and many that are not reported at all--
Here are some more that people indulge in :
Beating the Yellow ( Amber ) at the signals to get across rather than waiting. This is favorite of many as they cannot wait. They do not realize that the guys who are moving from Red to Green are also trying to beat them. So many near misses at every traffic junction.
Carrying the Helmet as an accessory and not wearing them .
I see Pedestrians also creating nightmares. Even if there is a Pedestrian Over bridge people are more excited to cross the road rather than use the Over bridge. In some places, people cannot cross the road due to barriers but they are good at gymnastics and jump over the barriers. The traffic on the road is most worried when pedestrians jump over barriers. A small trip and these guys could be at the wheels of the traffic that is on the road.
Some Pedestrians cross the road as if , they will lose precious time and may be lot of money… They will be so desperate . They just cannot wait…
Some drastic changes are needed if we have to stop putting a price on our lives.
Being Patient and starting early are some things that can be done right away . In current conditions, the risk that people take will save them five to ten minutes .Everyone needs to wonder if this saving is worth the riskt that they take—it is their lives at stake.
Reason for the irritation was because of the data that I looked at . The data is compelling . Chennai has the highest road accidents in 2011 – leaving close to 7900 injured and that includes around 1600 females. The trend for 2012 is on the wrong side as well.
I travel on certain routes on a daily basis and can write about the risk, that people create unmindful of the trouble that they can get in to…. It is just not a ticket or a fine but it is a fact that, they can get injured or cause injuries to others.
First is the right turn from KB Dasan Road to TTK road- there is a Neat Board that says’ No Right Turn’. People take the right turn all the time , unless there is a Cop monitoring the traffic. Some people take the right turn even when the Cop is around and give him dirty looks if he tries to stop them or redirects them correctly and at times there is a small chase but the offender does what he wants. The risk that people take is that people driving down TTK road towards the Music Academy side do not expect someone to come in from KB Dasan Road ( SIET road ) and many a time collusions have been avoided by a whisker.
Is there no other way to get to TTK Road? Yes , alternate route is available but it will take 700 meters more to drive , some waiting time .You may be delayed overall but not more than 5 minutes— Five minutes risk to these people is probably easier to take than the life they want to live !
Other routes that I watch – is the flyover leading from Kottupuram ( Turnbulls road ) in to Chamiers and down to Mount road. The flyover itself is narrow—Some people overtake on the wrong side and since the flyover curves out, visibility is poor but that does not prevent them from doing the overtaking.. again many near misses everyday .. and on top of that , at the end of the flyover, you will see three to four two wheelers waiting to cross the road like Pedestrians—they cannot go down the lane and take a U turn.. they will take the risk of driving against the ongoing traffic— they do not realize not only they stand being hit head on but any evasive action by the person coming correctly can result in an accident on his side !
And people take risks all the time - the places that I have mentioned are just a sample of what happens on a daily basis in Chennai. This must be happening all over the city leading to so many reported accidents and many that are not reported at all--
Here are some more that people indulge in :
Beating the Yellow ( Amber ) at the signals to get across rather than waiting. This is favorite of many as they cannot wait. They do not realize that the guys who are moving from Red to Green are also trying to beat them. So many near misses at every traffic junction.
Carrying the Helmet as an accessory and not wearing them .
I see Pedestrians also creating nightmares. Even if there is a Pedestrian Over bridge people are more excited to cross the road rather than use the Over bridge. In some places, people cannot cross the road due to barriers but they are good at gymnastics and jump over the barriers. The traffic on the road is most worried when pedestrians jump over barriers. A small trip and these guys could be at the wheels of the traffic that is on the road.
Some Pedestrians cross the road as if , they will lose precious time and may be lot of money… They will be so desperate . They just cannot wait…
Some drastic changes are needed if we have to stop putting a price on our lives.
Being Patient and starting early are some things that can be done right away . In current conditions, the risk that people take will save them five to ten minutes .Everyone needs to wonder if this saving is worth the riskt that they take—it is their lives at stake.
Comments
Thanks for bringing up this topic. I understand this even more now when I see how disciplined people are outside our country. You are completely right, is taking a risk on one's life worth the 5 extra minutes that you gain ? I believe discipline can only come with enforcement, why cant we have better enforcement from the cops, why not invest in automation -- have traffic cameras and fines for offenders, afterall is safety not a prime priority of the nation. Indian roads have become a laughing stock in the Western countries, I have seen some shows which describe our roads as some of the most dangerous and rightly so. Something must be done for better enforcement to improve the situation but how ?
Madhu
This is happening for a long time, i can understand from your blog is that you waited for the good time to come for all these but nothing happened till this moment. It wont be happening soon, as Madhu rightly said we have all the laws in place but nothing enforced, we cant only blame people for that.
If you have aggressive law enforcements and executions like other countries you can see a massive reduction on the number of road accidents and again the government should also provide good roads and accessible pavements for pedestrians considering the pain faced by motorist and the pedestrians in chennai metropolitan city.
People will not change unless you give them a platform to change, like good roads, agressive law enforecements and continuous monitoring till people become self disciplined.
What do you think about other country people, are they self disciplined? no , they will lose their license if they fail to follow the rules after few warnings, and lose points in their license at every failure, the result of which is high insurance premium and bad credit rating when they go for auto loan.
It is highly impossible for country like india to automate all these when we have great leaders ruling our country.Sometimes we have to live with it and face it.
Good blog though.
Thanks
SK
just finished writing on `Breaking Rules`which covers some of the points in your article.
Sad irony is the same people, when they are abroad, follow all the rules strictly . Why not they follow the same here?