In just one week this month six major traffic accidents cost many lives. Blueline buses were responsible for major accidents. But blaming Blueline buses would be over-simple. Rich kids driving fast cars, inexperienced drivers taking the wheel, road-rage killers...there is a spate of reasons why innocents die.
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit says it is safer to walk. How does she know? As a VIP she whizzes around in a motorcade led by pilots that violate every traffic rule in the book. She should try walking across the road circling the Hexagon near India Gate to reach the children’s park. It has no overbridge or underpass despite uninterrupted, hurtling traffic and is daily negotiated by children. Apart from Sheila Dikshit, Delhi has manyVIPs. They are escorted by pilots panting full speed, much like salivating hounds serving their masters. So, why is traffic so bad in Delhi? Because governance is so bad in India. No law is worth the paper it is written on.
Consider the issue of driving licences. Visit the authority issuing licences, and observe how driving tests are conducted. Britain’s MI6 could issue James Bond the licence to kill. India issues vehicle owners driving licences to kill. Observe, too, the doctor who issues medical certificates for renewal of driving licences. He is generally standing on the pavement with a little signboard, proclaiming his medical degree, latched on to his bicycle. Pay him a small fee and take the medical certificate. No questions asked.
In Delhi, the speed limit for cars is 50 kilometres per hour, for heavy vehicles 40. Sometimes when the police department needs money it posts cops to fine speeding vehicles. Rarely do car drivers know that the speed limit is 50. They daily see umpteen official cars hurtling through streets doing 80 or above. The salivating hounds and black cats that pilot VIP cars are never fined.
But the government does not worry about privileged car owners. It worries about the aam admi. Sheila Dikshit is happy that the aam admi is secure. She thinks it is safer to walk than to drive. Tell that to the families of accident victims who die daily.
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
