Roads in India - a journey from bad to dangerous
Everybody loves a good road in India, except those who get killed, and their families perhaps. It may sound odd if I say good roads are not necessarily good for India, at least with the existing habits of road users. But that’s the truth.
In India, I would dare say there is a direct relationship between the quality of the roads and the number of fatal accidents. Better roads equates to more fatal accidents. For e.g If one compares the Nilgiris Ghat highway and ECR road, the number of fatal accidents will be infinitely higher in the latter. Reason - speed kills. While one may be constrained to drive at 60kmph in Nilgiris because of the terrain, a well laid road like the ECR removes all such constraints. There is no concept of speed limit here. There are people who consistently make to Pondy in about 80 minutes from Thiruvanmiyur, a distance of about 130 kms – the road is not multi-lane FYI.
While there is nothing new in all these things, what makes me really worried is that India at last is getting into the habit of building multi-lane highways across the country.
Which means it is much more dangerous to violate traffic rules in future than it has ever been in the past. One can violate traffic rules in South Avani Moola Street in Madurai and yet nothing would happen. But doing the same in OMR would mean somebody will get killed – it can be the violator or the victim or both.
So what is the way out?
It is common knowledge that people in urban India have substantial western influence – from food, to clothes, to movies to English speaking ability. Given this urge, it is surprising that we are all Indians when it comes to following traffic rules - one of the few traits where we can ape the west for good. I think one of the main reasons behind our inability to ape the west in adhering to traffic rules is that most of the educated junta have no clue about how traffic systems work and drivers drive in the developed countries. They can see what suit a white man wears, they understand the language he speaks, but they cannot see how the traffic system works there. At least I had no clue till I made my first and only trip abroad. This is one of those things which one has to see it to understand it.
Why not leverage this ‘ape the west’ mentality here with the help of Videos? I think we, the educated masses are not getting enough opportunities to feel ashamed about our driving habits.
We should be shown smartly made videos which shows how the traffic works in developed countries vis-à-vis India? These can be played in strategic locations like Petrol bunks, bus terminus etc. I think this will definitely arouse some curiosity if it the message is kept subtle.
I would say there is a reasonable chance that the English speaking Indians would subconsciously try to ape the west on this as well. Even otherwise, Heck, what’s wrong in trying this? We have nothing to lose by trying it. As it is, we are losing people everyday in our roads. How worse can it get?
I agree that there are considerable infrastructure constraints in India. The population here is unbelievable, there is zilch traffic enforcement. But honestly I think the fundamental issue is the drivers and the mind set more than anything else.
I do not think having good roads alone will bring down traffic related deaths. History suggests that with our road habits, it is likely to go up. There is no weekend without accidents in ECR. In the famous IT corridor, I find stray cows sitting right next to the center median, gravel distributed all over the roads at night – riding two-wheelers require special skills here, policemen keep road dividers in the most ridiculous of spots, vehicles are parked for one- third of the road, MTC trailer buses swerve from left lane to right with relish. Despite all this, cars and buses ply at about 80-90 kmph by default. In short we have a crude but effective method to bring down the population.
The above outlined solution may or may not work. But I am certain we need to find a solution on war footing. And anything which makes sense and does not cost a bomb should be tried out. Because anything which causes us to lose a few lives a day is no less than a war – be it roads or terrorism.