The Hindu : International conference on driver training

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 07, 2002

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International conference on driver training

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

CHENNAI NOV. 6. Most accidents on the Indian roads occur because drivers are rash or careless or err. These kill about 85,000 people every year and seriously cripple 130,000. And the men and women at the wheel are to blame for 90 per cent of these deaths and deformities.

In fact, India holds a preposterous record here: it accounts for 10 per cent of the fatalities worldwide. The approximate social cost is a whopping Rs. 55,000 crore annually.

Let us take just two examples of what many feel are mishaps that need never have happened. Recently, popular actor Salman Khan ran over sleeping men in Mumbai, and killed one and wounded several others. Of course, he claims he was neither drunk nor in the driver's seat. Some years ago, Admiral Nanda's young relative also ploughed his car through sleeping men in New Delhi. Many died.

Often, accidents can be directly attributed to speeding. With powerful vehicles now available in Indian markets, the temptation to speed is hard to resist. A Chennai doctor and his wife feel terribly nervous every time their son takes their car for a spin. "He tends to race'', the doctor worries himself sick.

There are reasons for his anxiety. Instances of youngsters, barely out of their teens, dying on the street are no longer rare. The cause of such calamity is often speed.

A foreigner on a visit to Chennai once wondered why drivers were treating the roads as race tracks. Those unwilling to speed are honked and hooted out of the way by the daring and the defiant. They call this tailgating in North America, an important reason for road rage.

But, speed is not the only culprit. Poor street conditions, and ill-maintained vehicles ( the Delhi schoolbus accidents are a case in point) do contribute. In the past two decades, does anybody remember seeing such terrible roads in Chennai? The gaping potholes and the flooded stretches are virtual death-traps for especially two-wheeler riders. Add to these poor lighting and the obsession with high beams, and they form the classic circle of murder.

An International Conference on Professionalism in Driving Training Systems — organised by the Institute of Road Traffic Education, and supported by the governments of India and the U.K., the Austrian Road Safety Board and the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents — will be held in Goa from November 15 to 26. The meet will focus on global professionalism in driving, laws and licensing systems.

Probably, India has its laws in place. What it does not have, is enforcement. And, beyond this, the sheer will to make our thoroughfares safe.

To begin with, at the street-level, so to say, there is very little of it. The traffic constable is so intimidated by swanky cars that he will hesitate to register a case against the drivers in case of violations.Police reforms are also essential if road accidents have to be checked. Corruption is so rampant that rules are flouted with impunity by drivers. Trucks pay their way through by breaching just about every law. State transport buses, particularly in Tamil Nadu, jump signals and break speed regulations in a manner that would shock any civilised society.

Worse, government cars apparently feel that they have the ultimate right of way. Stop and yellow lines do not deter them.

The Goa conference, one hopes, will address these weaknesses/problems.

There are, however, two significant points of reference. One, licences should no longer be available for the asking, and they must be taken away for reasonable periods of time in the event of any misdemeanour. Two, the role of education can never be overemphasised. Schools and colleges must impart traffic lessons to students regularly.

Most young drivers, in schools or colleges, display a shocking sense of ignorance about traffic rules and safety.

A sociologist once explained why we are such daredevils. "There are too many people in India, and human life has very little value,'' he rued.

But Japan has a higher population density, but the care which an individual has for another is unbelievable.

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