Seat Belts and Road Safety. Review on General Tips on Safe Driving

This has reference to wearing of seat belts for safety, made mandatory following the order of the Honourable Supreme Court(dated Dec. 6, 2001, in the writ petition(civil) of 1985 - M.C. Mehta Vs Union of India). While it makes perfect sense to wear seat belts, and the judgment deserves much to be applauded, let us look at another aspect of safety that is being compromised. The same breed of vehicles that have seat belts introduced, have crash bumpers made of impact resistant fiber material for maximum safety of those traveling inside the vehicle and other road users as well. But, vast majority of vehicle users resort to fixing extra steel frames protruding in front of the non-metallic bumpers to protect from damage, without realizing that they are actually jeopardizing their own and public safety. I feel it would be more meaningful to have a ban imposed on fixing extra steel frames on vehicles, if safety has to get its due importance and credit. Otherwise, the purpose of providing non-metallic bumpers, by the vehicle manufacturers, stands defeated. Aside from this, there are safety standards well laid I believe; safety -day, -week, -fortnightly, celebrations, and what not?; to educate the public.

But then how safe are Indian roads for the people to use? Pot holes, loosely filled trenches, created for some reason or other and left as such; improperly leveled roads; bitumen quality that do not resist blue metal being chipped off following minor rains even; irregularly laid road medians; temporary concrete blocks initially placed to serve as medians being disturbed due to vehicular traffic; statues with big circular traffic islands restraining smooth flow of traffic; lack of proper pedestrian platforms( and where there are platforms, unlawfully occupied by shop-keepers by way of product display and signboards); garbage and debris strewn all around often; garbage bins improperly located, disrupting free flow of traffic; improperly placed lamp and electric posts; countless number of commercial vehicles(particularly lorries and trucks) plying without any tail lamps, brake lights, and crash bumpers;'fish-carts' that carry long, protruding steel rods_these are some of the grave pictures Indian roads depict, all of which are detrimental to road safety. Aren't there any laws to check and set right these anomalies? Isn't it possible to file a litigation in the Supreme Court against such deficiencies? Concerning road medians I wish to illustrate a classic case in point: Some parts of the medians of Anna Salai, Chennai city's arterial road were reconstructed using brick and mortar. In order to beautify them, ceramic tiles were pasted. And to protect those tiles from being broken by moving vehicles, angle-iron rods have been planted close to the medians without any thought to hazards such a measure would pose. Due to heavy vehicular traffic the tiles and the rods have accumulated black soot making them almost invisible to spot at night. As a result, some of the rods have been hit by some vehicles or other and got bent too. Except for posing danger to vehicle users, the rods have not even served the purpose of protecting the tiles because these are seen broken even then. Doesn't it raise the question as to who really has awareness of human safety?

Once as I was driving my car with seat belts on, through city roads, I was behind a garbage collecting lorry being operated by ONYX in Chennai city. It had a pair of hooks to mechanically lift garbage bins from road side for garbage collection. The pair of hooks were so protruding and non-reflective, that it was almost invisible. Fortunately, because I applied the brakes promptly, I was saved. Otherwise, the hooks would have pierced the front wind-shield of my car, injuring my face. I wondered how my seat belts could have saved me in such a situation. There was another incident in which a high-beam head light and the poorly discernible median caused and accident:

On Mar. 29, a colleague of mine was coming in his Maruti 800 car with his 2 year old child and a friend, at about 9 P.M. towards Vadapalani - Jawaharlal Nehru Road junction from Vijaya Hospital side. The poorly discernible median and the high-beam put up by an approaching vehicle, caused his car to hit the median and climb over. The next moment, a heavy vehicle coming from behind, hit this car which eventually turned turtle. The child's hand was injured damaging the tendons, and his friend's left hand suffered multiple fractures. Who can account for such unsafe manner in which medians and roads are maintained?

In this context, I find it hard to figure out what value do widely publicized safety awareness programmes and public functions carry for the masses. Safety awareness programmes, educational campaigns, imposing safety rules on the public; are all the easiest things to do for the government and the authorities; and represent only one side of the weighing scale. The other side of the balance viz., ensuring construction and maintenance of roads consistently conforming to high safety through quality work, at the same time warding off unscrupulous road laying contractors who compromise on quality, commitment and workmanship, is the most difficult part for the government and the authorities to achieve.

I hope a day would dawn when both sides of the balance would enjoy equal weight provided, some serious steps are taken in this direction. I had seen in the past some automobile advertisements that state' OUR VEHICLES ARE DESIGNED FOR INDIAN ROADS' . In my opinion, that's not something for us to take pride in. When are we going to boldly advertise to the world that'INDIAN ROADS ARE DESIGNED FOR INTERNATIONAL BRAND OF CARS'?