Wrong side driving - road safety

Recently, I went outstation on road by car due to some emergency. The distance covered one way was about 550 km. 

In this particular route, in one stretch, I had many near misses, as I found vehicles of all types like 4- / 2- wheelers, carts, etc coming straight opposite in the wrong direction. 

Assuming I am safe due to the road divider, I was driving at 80-100 kmph speed. But, as I entered this particular stretch, I narrowly missed opposite coming vehicles many times. Initially, I thought it is a one-time affair. But, there was a constant stream of vehicles of all types. In one particular place, I thought I got one more life. The truck coming opposite straight in the wrong direction to me was about to hit, after taking a turn from the other side at about 50 distance (which I did not expect such a thing can happen). To avoid a collision, I changed from the lane adjacent to the divider to the middle lane. But, this truck driver also moved to the middle lane, and hurriedly he moved to the first lane again, thus narrowly missing me. Further to this wrong direction driving, he started staring at me. 

I felt that this lane discipline is nothing and should be careful during driving in this stretch at all times that vehicles can come in all directions. 

Road safety - impatience of heavy vehicle drivers

Today, I went out to take admission for my son. My wife was on the wheel. While returning, on a busy road, a state government bus driver kept honking and we could not give way, as the road ahead is not free. After a while, that driver overtook us from left side and drove to right past of our vehicle, threatening to crush our car. While overtaking, he waved his right hand furiously.

I could not understand, how one will get moving space when the road is full of traffic. All vehicle drivers need psychology classes, road accident data, reasons for road accidents and stress levels to all on the road. As per data, most of the road victims are due to hit by state buses.

Recently, a college girl died (see my previous post) when hit from behind by a state run bus. 

Road safety: Heavy rains - pot holes - accidents

A school girl died when she fell from pillion seat due to pot holes and was hit by the bus behind. The roads were damaged due to rains and municipal authorities say that they have to wait for dry weather for road repairs.
The quality of the road is very important and it should not be some temporary patch work. Otherwise, this will repeat with every rain.
Though some quality professionals do not agree that quality and safety are interlinked, the above incident shows that both are linked. No quality means no safety.
The contractors should be penalized for bad work and bank guarantees should be obtained for specific period.

Safe driving measures - a record achieved

The state road transport corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APSRTC) received a trophy for better performance on road by its drivers after achieving accident record of 0.13 and 0.11 accidents per every lakh kilometers driven in the last two years. The corporation has 23000 buses that ferry about 1.2 crore passengers every day with 82 lakh kilometer coverage whereas in the country about 1.5 lakh buses ferry 7 crore passengers every day.

This low accident record was made possible by putting  a family photo of the driver along with breath analysis of drivers for alcohol before boarding. Also, the corporation sacked those drivers found in intoxicated condition.

This strong message of zero tolerance to drink driving has worked as per the words of Managing Director of APSRTC. 

From the above, we can see that tough measures to the extent of termination and encashing family sentiment result in better safety for the people. Similar measures should be taken by all industries and regulators should act tough on erring industries even by suspending/cancelling the licence so as to ensure a safe work place and environment.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Better-drive-safe-wifes-watching/articleshow/17935143.cms

How can we reduce unsafe acts on the roads and avoid accidents?

It is common to see various unsafe acts by vehicle drivers on the roads, like, talking on mobile while driving, driving in the wrong direction, parking the vehicles on the roads at unauthorized places, overloading, jumping the signals, etc.  A large number of vehicles are parked on the roads, causing congestion. Taxis, etc are parked near bus stops to pickup prospective customers, leading to reduced road width for other commuters. This is because no proper space is left during construction of houses, shopping malls, theaters, etc to maximize returns for them while not bothering about safety for public on the roads.
These acts endanger the vehicle drivers as well as other vehicle drivers and pedestrians. And it is not possible for the traffic police to catch all of them at all times.
Common public should be encouraged to take photographs of such unsafe acts along with readable vehicle numbers and local government should create a website for uploading of such photos by public and ensure some responsible authority in the control room to verify, prepare and issue penalty notices.   Surely, local authorities can make a killing by collecting parking fee on the roads instead of their own buildings because of parking everywhere on the roads. Non-payment should result in attaching the vehicle and/or property of the offenders.
Only when such public participation is ensured, road safety for all can be a reality. Else, it will be difficult for anybody to control and avoid accidents on the road.

Road accidents in India

In an article in mint daily on 24.07.2012, it is stated that fatalities due to road accidents in India are on the rise and in the year 2011, 11.8 persons died per lakh of population compared to 11.4, 10.8, 10.5 in 2010, 2009 and 2008 respectively. Within the country, highest fatalities due to road accidents are in the state Goa where 23 persons per lakh die, followed by Tamilnadu (21), Puducherry (19), Haryana (19), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (18.4), Andhra Pradesh (17.9), Delhi (12.3), Maharashtra (11.6), Uttar Pradesh (11), Bihar (4.9).
As per WHO, every hour 40 persons under the age 25 die in the globe and this is 14/hr in India in 2009. The report says drunken driving is a major factor along with speeding, low use of helmets/seat belts, etc. Deaths are on rise progressive states like Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh.
From the road safety statistics above, it appears that road accidents are less in states with good rail network compared to others and this calls for increasing the coverage of the country with good rail network. This will also help in decongestion of roads, reduction in import of fossil fuels thus saving foreign exchange, less pollution and better health.


http://www.livemint.com/2012/07/23233225/Path-to-safety.html?h=B news item
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5973996/Users/Pooja/G-ACCIDENTS.pdf road accident statistics
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,5519345,00.html WHO report

Charge the vehicle owners for parking on the roads

At many places, people park their vehicles in front of their houses on the roads, leading to narrowing of roads and accidents. It is mandatory to leave sufficient space (about 10 ft or more depending upon the plot area) in front of the house upto their compound wall. But, hardly this norm is followed. Overcome by greed, people leave little space and construct the houses upto their boundary, and may be sometimes encroaching their neighbour's area or public road. Naturally, this leads to no parking space and occupants park their vehicles on the roads. All such vehicles should be taken over by local authorities and charge heavy penalties. If there is no response within specified period (say two weeks), the vehicle should be put up for auction. There are thousands of vehicles of all categories that are parked on the roads and I feel this brings sufficient income for the local authorities and also bring discipline among the greedy.

Road safety - Heavy penalties for traffic offences

As per a report in the year 2010, 1.3 lakh persons died due to road accidents. A study reveals road accidents cost the nation about Rs 1,00,000 crore.  There will be many road accidents which go unreported and authorities come to know of the accidents only when persons are seriously injured and require medical help.
Government proposes to penalize heavily those caught on the road with drunken driving/mobile use during driving/over speeding/jumping the signal/driving without helmet or seatbelt/using vehicle without registration. The government proposes penalties for first offence ranging from Rs 500 to 10,000 and for subsequent offences upto Rs 20,000. Dangerous driving and mobile use invite jail term also upto 2 years.
On this aspect, in earlier post way back in the year 2008-9, I felt the same.

Apart from penalising those with dangerous/unsafe driving, pedestrians crossing the roads without waiting for easing of road traffic, roadside business persons encroaching the roads, persons parking vehicles on the road also should be penalised heavily as they are also responsible for a number of road accidents and deaths.
And those caught with traffic offences should be forced to work on social service activities like cleaning the roads, schools, performing traffic control duties, etc.

Many times, to save the persons on the roads, vehicle drivers move away  and this during speed causes skidding/loosing control/hitting the road divider or street pole, etc leading to fall of the driver, toppling of the vehicle, hitting some other person/vehicle, etc and injury/death.

Government proposes to use 50% of the fines collected to use for road safety fund. Apart from this, I wish government gives 25% of the fines collected as incentive to the traffic police. In my earlier posts on the same topic, I opined to give some basic salary to the traffic police and allow them to take penalty amount as their income. This will also reduce burden on the government to maintain huge staff and encourage to recruit more and more traffic police all over the country by respective authorities. I also suggested in earlier posts to takeover properties of offending drivers/vehicle owners to teach lessons for life. In a situations where words are not enough, only actions / measures like above will control road accidents and save lakhs of lives.

Reducing noise on the roads

I commute everyday 30 km to reach my workplace and back to residence. I am forced to use horn many times while driving because of other drivers / pedestrians / pushcarts crossing the lane / parking the vehicles encroaching the road, taking shortcuts to cross the road instead of using road islands, sudden change in the direction, slowing the vehicle suddenly, talking on the mobile while driving across the road, coming in wrong direction, and so on. This will happen in either direction of travel. This horn sound is an irritation and disturbance to me apart from increasing stress levels.
Last few weeks, I observed that by using flashlight (dipper) to caution those coming in opposite direction and crossing the road, atleast I can avoid use of horn and thus the irritation. Though, I have to use horn to caution those driving in front of me. If the driver is not alert with his erroneous way of driving, I have to change my lane after watching the vehicular movement behind through rear view mirror.
I feel from my experience that the use of flashlight helps in reducing noise on levels on the road and this this facility should be made compulsory for all vehicles by concerned authorities.

Style statement?

Last few months, I am observing on the road where some bike riders, mostly young age boys, drive with a brush in the mouth. I do not know where from they start and where they want to go. It takes hardly two minutes to brush and wash. Add to this some riders will be talking on the cell phone, that is held between the head and the shoulder. I do not know how such parallel processing of driving, brushing and talking is being done by them.
I feel these people want to show their machoism by such acts ( a style statement) and may be there are some who fall for display of such acts. But, these acts can lead to other road users getting involved in the accidents as these stylish bike riders may not be able to control their vehicle properly and be safe on the road. May be the road traffic police should include driving with tooth brush also as  punishable offence.

Road rage - a car accident

Today morning while going to my work place, while going over a rail over bridge, I saw a car that hit a truck on its rear side, possibly in the darkness. No idea about injuries. Yesterday, same time, I saw the truck at the same place in halt condition, due to some breakdown. The surrounding area was isolated by keeping some tree branches.
Normally, when some vehicle is under breakdown, the driver uses blinkers that are ON indicating about vehicle presence. Some keep stones upto some distance. Some use night reflectors to indicate presence of vehicle.
Nobody expects, vehicle parking on the rail over bridges, flyovers, etc and drive vehicle at full speed, particularly at night times due to little traffic. I suspect accident might have occurred for this reason.
Many times, I too had heart jump while driving on flyovers, as suddenly I find some one talking on mobile after taking sides to the extreme end; some repairing their vehicle; some stopping the vehicle and looking at the nature; and so on.
Some trucks while carrying lengthy rods, pipes, etc do not tie the red flags, do not switch on the blinkers, and those driving behind, if they do not recognize, surely they get involved in accidents.
Road safety is very important for every one and loosing concentration even for a second may lead to deaths.
Sometime back, a person driving his 2-wheeler on a main road died, as all of sudden a mini truck entered from side road to main road rashly, leaving little chance for the person to escape.
I feel there should be speed breakers on all branch roads just before joining the main road so that vehicle speed will come down drastically.
Some places, I found branch roads immediately at the end of the flyovers. This condition too can lead to accidents as those driving fast on flyovers will find vehicles entering from branch roads. This is my personal experience too. Once, I was driving my vehicle on a rail over over bridge. I saw a 2-wheeler raider in front of me skidded and fell down while applying brakes as he saw a vehicle entering from branch road. Seeing this another vehicle driver nearby also applied brakes and he too fell down. From then on, whenever I drive down on flyovers, I am going very slowly, though I drive at speed while driving up on the flyover.

Wrong signals - a nearmiss experience

Yesterday, I went  to see my friend staying about 20 km from my residence. I went on a 2-wheeler and stopped at a traffic signal. A car was on my right with right indicator blinking. When the traffic signal turned green, I moved straight and this car on my right instead of going straight or right turned left. I was just ahead of it and would have fell down had the left moving car bumped my vehicle. My heart pounded fast for few minutes.
A similar incident happened earlier few months ago which I mentioned in my earlier post wherein I was hit by a car and I fell on the road. Few years ago, when I was going to my office, again, I had a near miss, this time from another 2-wheeler with wrong signals. I was going straight and the scooter with left indicator ON, moved right. The driver shouted at me and when I pointed him to his left indicator, he laughed and drove off.

This type of driving with wrong signals is very dangerous and we have to be careful on the road, more so at junctions, irrespective of the indicators on the other vehicles.

Road rage

There was a news report on 20.06.2010 in which a promising actor died in a road accident. He was driving a bike. Suddenly a van entered the main road from a side road. The bike driver could not control his vehicle and in the collision, he died.

It is common for people drive vehicles at very high speed. Everyday, people die in road accidents and is common to see a full page of such accident reports in news papers.

Driving the vehicles at speeds which they can't control is wrong in the first place. Then, not following road discipline is another worst factor. People entering main roads do not slow down to see a clear road and instead enter the road at the same speed as they are driving and thus unnerve the drivers on the main road. Most of the accidents are due to entry of vehicles from side roads or vehicles slowing down suddenly in the same lane without indication or taking turns from extreme left to right without watching for vehicles coming behind.

Our roads are not racing tracks. It is proper if the bikes above 100 cc are banned. Similarly, four wheelers of high engine capacity should be banned so that vehicle speed can be limited to 50 kmph. All side roads should have speed breakers before they join the main road. The road dividers should of such height that nobody can use them to cross the road.

As someone suggested in a TV discussion programme, the licence of the vehicle drivers involved in accidents should be cancelled and drivers without licence should be imprisoned to reduce the accidents. Similarly, the pedestrians crossing the roads as they please should be fined heavily. I observed a few times that the pedestrians crossing the road wave their fingers to motorists. These people do not have sense that even if a motorist sees them, he may hit before slowing down the vehicle.

Road Rage - Control

For the last three months, I am commuting between office and residence on my vehicle. Before that I utilized department transport facility. Though the route is same, I am finding it difficult to control my anger at the way others on the road ride their vehicles. I may be getting every month Rs 4,000/- for coming on my own but I think this road rage of others is creating mental tension and is leading to health problems for me.

Most of the persons do not give directions, which way they will be turning. Some intelligent pillion riders keeping waving their hands in the air and we do not know whether to take it as a signal or he is talking. Other fellows, do not bother about the blinking indicators of their vehicles. They do not even bother to see that the indicator lamp is blinking. Then vehicle parking at the T joint roads. People park their vehicles right at the corners of T joints and those coming from side road to main road have to take a long turn with the possibility of collision with other vehicles plying on the main road.

Then, the cell world. With benk necks, keeping the mobile between the shoulder and the ear, it has become a fashion statement for the so called youth to start the vehicle after putting the mobile in above manner. It is unnerving to see such people on the road, particularly when they cross the road at 90 degrees from other roads. Then there are some people who slow down after joining the road from side roads and are undecided to go which way.

One day, when I was driving my bike, suddenly an elderly person (about 60 years, appears retired from service) started crossing the road, by waving the fingers in threatening manner. Not waiting for traffic to ease, he even wants to hold moving motorists responsible his safe road crossing.

Two days ago, I was going down the rail-over-bridge. I was driving the bike parallel to a bus, on its right side. I am not able to see what is on the other side of the bus. As I reached the end of the bridge and about to speed up the bike on the level road, suddenly a old man in his car appeared in front of me crossing the road at 90 degrees. I could not see the car as the bus on my left blocked my view on that side. Car driver could have seen the bus coming down the bridge. But he did not bother. My heart stopped a moment. But, as I observed, the old man was cool. I think he does not have any desire to live also, the way he appeared, the way he crossed the road though a bus was coming down at speed.

Then, there are other cool guys who drive their vehicle almost at the middle of the road at a slow speed. It is good that they are going at slow speed. But, by their action they are occupying the entire road. Common sense that we should drive at LEFT does not occur to them.

Then, the urgent masters. They seem to be in hurry always. Even when ambulances are coming behind with the siren, they do not want to give side. A life is at stake. But, if other motorists in their front are giving way for the ambulance behind to sped past, these hurry masters will use this and keep going forward.

Next come the cut masters. The road will be plain without obstructions or pits. Still, these fellows sometimes with more than one person in pillion, rush their vehicles with sharp cuts increasing B.P. of the other drivers on the road.

I find one of the solutions for these types of problems, is not to allow roads to intersect directly at 90 degrees. Side roads can join the road and then U turns should be provided 1/2 KM away from the point of joining of side road to main road, so that with some discipline, motorists can go along the road and take turn to the other road. This will avoid direct crossing of the road.

Similarly, there should not be any side roads at both ends of flyovers or road over bridges so that speeding vehicles do not hit those trying to cross to side roads at these places.

Then shops / business establishments / eateries at the corners of T joint should not be permitted if they do not have fenced parking place. If any vehicles is parked at the T joints where side roads join main roads, all these vehicles should be towed away and seized. Heavy penalties like Rs 5,000/- for first offence should be imposed so that they remember it for their life and may even spread the message among their friends and known persons. This will create awareness on road safety. It will start slowly, but I am sure, in a short time it will spread every where.

Similarly, penalties should be implemented strictly. Those who use mobiles on the roads, ride the vehicles without helmets / safety belts, go in wrong direction, go at excessive speed, do not stop at the signals, etc should be fined. The penalties should be excessive and targets should be given to the road traffic police. This will avoid corruption, else, with excessive penalties, violators will be willing to pay a fraction of the fine as bribe and escape. More people can be recruited in this regard and I am sure the penalties will be suffice to fund the salaries of these inspectors. If any body repeats his mistake, then, the vehicle / equipment (mobile) should be seized and should be sold by auction. This can be another income for the department.

Any body digging the road should be made to pay twice / thrice the cost of repairs to a road safety fund in addition to repairing the road immediately after his work is completed. This will avoid mindless digging of the roads for functions / cable laying one after another / etc.

If any person by his road movements causes injury / death, 10 - 50 % of his property value, with a minimum of Rs 5.0 lakhs should be collected from him towards the road safety fund. Apart from this, his licence should be cancelled forever, all vehicles under his possession should be seized and sold by auction. Such persons are not fit to drive the vehicles on the roads and it is better for them to use other transport methods.

Rules should be made such that, buyers of vehicles should watch road safety video and go through pamphlets and give under taking that they watched the road safety video and read the reading material and give under taking that they will not violate road safety rules (video and study material to be made specially for this purpose by transport department).

Though one may feel these types of penalties are stringent, reading the number of deaths every day because of road rage, I feel it is appropriate. Danda (stick) only will work in this world. Saama, Daana, Bhedha will not work.

I have some thing to say about road dividers also. With every relaying of the road, the height of the road divider comes down and after some time, the road divider is nothing but a small curb which is taken to their advantage by rule breakers by jumping over the roads on other side. The road divider should in fact be like a parapet wall of 1.5 m height so that road crossing becomes difficult illegally and then the high beam lights of opposite side coming vehicles will not cause momentary blindness to the drivers and thus will avoid accidents due to this cause.

Road safety - during rains

The city is witnessing unusual rains now. The news bulletin in the TV says that monsoon showers are advanced by two weeks. We may hear shortly that a person fell into a open drain somewhere and was washed off. Last few years we are hearing this at one place or the other. Though the rain will be less, due to less seepage in to earth, all the rain water flows down along its graident downwards and there will be stagnated water where roads are uneven. We also do not learn from earlier incidents that were reported in news papers, TV, etc. We do same mistakes. We venture out into those pools and think that we are the most safety conscious among the lot on the road.

We go at great speeds on the road, take turns in the wrong direction, cause tense moments to others on the roads (they too cause the same). Some people normally go on left side but when it comes to a turning, they do the opposite. They take their vehicle to the extreme right (more so in blind turns) and find some one coming in the opposite direction (for him it is left). Due to water on the road, vehicles skid when brakes are applied (or brakes may also fail). Then, there are persons on the road who does not mind crossing without bother about speeding vehicles. Either the pedestrian will be hit or to save the pedestrian the rider will injure him self by applying brakes or will hit some body else on the road.

Let us remember the rains that caused havoc last year in Bengaluru and Mumbai. Persons in the cars thought they are safe and took cover in the cars. As the rain water on the road rose to dangerous levels they could not open the car doors and died of suffocation. In Hyderabad, two-three persons stepped into open drains in the water pool and were washed off.

Let us be prepared and also teach our children about road sense so that every body will be safe.