Tag: Indian roads

Wish I had ‘braved the weather’.

What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

Roads in India are bad. Motorists often flout rules. Accidents, therefore, are a regular sight.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) says 70 percent of fatal road accidents happen due to speeding. 

And, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, the minister for transport, said people are so negligent on roads. 

It’s each individual’s responsibility to observe strict discipline while driving. One should always be on guard. With all senses open.

I wish I had the skill to spot the (most common) traps people in India fall so easily into, like cricket falling on bright headlamps.

The advanced skill that helps me (every day) spot potholes, leaking sewer holes, unmarked speed-breakers, a two-day old fallen tree, deadly blind-spots, sudden road-closures, diversions, a speeding metro truck from behind, a petrol station that’s “closed for maintenance”, a minister’s motorcade crossing, the dead-end (daily) election meetings, huge blaring speakers on either side, a falling billboard, a 15 ft cinema banner in the middle, a religious procession on foot, the auto-rickshaw in front that stops abruptly when seen a client, failed lights at junctions and a parking lot which is full (already) but without a notice.

Can I?

Make Indian roads safe for driving.

What do you wish you could do more every day?

India accounts for the highest number of road accidents in the world.

Seven out of every 10 lives, or 70%, die due to speeding in India.

In an interview last month, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that government intervention would not be enough unless citizens start following traffic rules more seriously.

I wish, therefore, I could do more by stopping citizens, educate them about safe driving and tell them to avoid speeding. And I hope that would help save lives on Indian roads.

I wish I could do it every day.