manoj

MOTORISED VEHICLE is a boon to mankind but is also a new age "pestilence". It was hailed as the greatest revolution on earth when it was invented but today it has turned into a killer, the greatest polluter of the environment and a potential killing machine threatening our lives everyday. Is it a new age parasite or predator or both?

A 10-year-old boy driving a car knocked down a senior citizen when she was on her morning walk. She was left with multiple fractures and a broken hip. The culprit was a boy being taught to drive a car by his father. The criminal here was not the child but the father.

In another incident, a driver rammed his bus into a stationary car at a traffic signal killing a three-year-old on the spot. The excuse was that the brakes failed. Investigations revealed otherwise.

Precious lives are being wiped out, shattering homes. But I see no protests, no demonstrations. The killer drivers are back on the roads a week later. Is no one accountable? Nearly one lakh people die every year on our roads and more than 4 lakh people are seriously injured. We need to have road safety education on a war footing in our schools, not just for drivers. We need to be serious about preventing senseless deaths on our roads.

What concrete steps have been taken over the last 20 years by the government to ensure that only suitable, responsible and technically qualified and healthy drivers are inducted in the public transport service? This is not about quotas. It is about human lives.

Issuance of driving licences should be taken as seriously as issuing a passport. The government has taken up the problems caused by increasing traffic. More roads are being added and old ones are being widened not only to accommodate the burgeoning numbers of cars but to cope with the traffic deluge in 2010.

The dangerous part is that these traffic snarls create a cloud of toxic fumes (carbon monoxide) lethal to the human system, especially infants. The running vehicle, when stationary, is burning fossil fuel and gives off huge quantities of highly noxious fumes which when inhaled kill our red blood corpuscles. This results in loss of oxygen to vital organs and weakens our immune system.

The early symptoms are fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite and sleep and irritability. Traffic snarls cause a huge amount of stress. Road rage is one of the obvious results. What is invisible is the effect of this stress on our bodies. Stress results in release of cholesterol and nitric acid in our system, which is a silent killer.

Burning fossil fuels also creates green house gases, including oil-laden smoke, carbon, smog etc — the largest cause of climate change. What can we do about it? Traffic jams are caused mostly by impatient and indisciplined drivers. The solution is to obey traffic rules and be disciplined and steady. Stay in your lane. Patience is the key. Let us try to be good citizens and better drivers.

Author: Mike H. Pandey
About Author: Mike H. Pandey is a conservationist and winner of three Green Oscars
Article Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (Delhi Edition)
Date Of Publish: 08-Nov-06

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motorbike

As for as i am concern this is a big issue: Issuing Driving Licence Even i have got driving license without any inspection...I have cleard written test but there is no practical exam...this is wrong. There should be a practical exam in front of RTO officer.

junaid

Please tell me how much ammount u gave as a bribe to got ur DL...hummm

motorbike

Nothing dude!! Bco'z my uncle is in RTO office at that time...that's why i got license...Pricisely this is wrong

junaid

U r so lucky...actually Uncle-Nephew relationship is very common in our country and it always plays an important role in government offices but no doubt it is very handy....

isn't it ?

Exactly...this is against the law