murti

Traffic Drive Over Zeal

Imphal, 5th May, 09: The government’s recent and out of the blue order making it compulsory for all 2-wheeler motorists and pillion to wear crash helmet was somewhat a shock because of the suddenness but all the same welcome.

Actually, it should not have needed an official decree of the government, and individual motorists on their own, and for their own safety, should have made this bit of protective gear a necessary accessory a long time ago.

In metropolises such as New Delhi, anybody going out on a 2-wheeler without crash helmet, would have felt exposed and extremely vulnerable, and although there is a law that makes helmets compulsory, not many, except the incorrigibly reckless, would dare venture out without one. But perhaps there is a catch here.

While we welcome the government’s move, it may also be that the public still do not feel it is an utmost necessity and at best is only an extra precaution. And this intuitive sense of individual traffic safety cannot be without a reason. Although the roads in Imphal are getting increasingly congested, there is still little room for speeding in the capital region or the other townships, and thereby the reciprocal lack of importance accorded to extra protective gears such as the crash helmet.

The qualification we would hence like to throw in at the government’s initiative is, perhaps in the list of traffic precautions most felt as necessary by all sections of society, including 2-wheeler users, crash helmets figured several notches below certain others.

As for instance, many motorists who frequently drive after daylight hours would agree that road dividers without proper markings with luminous paints are a real danger, especially with the streets remaining dark on account of the perpetual power failure in the state and the vehicle headlights becoming the only source of illumination.

Many would have actually met the unfortunate fate of ramming into or climbing atop one of them at one or the other start points of these dividers. This danger is even more accentuated when there is a drizzle. There are also the potholes and perennial roadside diggings along many of the roads, which again are not clearly marked with visible signboards or markings. Those who reside or work in the Lamphel area would agree to this. On the question of traffic snarls in Imphal, nobody would be fooled a lot of it is on account of an absolute lack of traffic disciplining.

Nobody believes in a traffic queue, this is especially so in the case of police commando vehicles. Whenever one such vehicle passes by, the occupants with varying degrees of disdain written on their faces for fellow motorists, expects everyone else to scoot so that they can have the road all by themselves.

There are also bus depots still allowed within the heart of Imphal city causing frustrating jams routinely. The bottleneck outside the State Central Library building is one such. Then there is the problem of an extreme paucity of parking space forcing people to park their vehicles in the middle of the road and even on bridges. A visit to the Gandhi Avenue outside the SBI or UBI will convince anybody of this nuisance. Yet, the authorities pretend ignorance of these issues even as it steps forward to push the helmet norm.

We have no serious argument against the helmet norm, but these other traffic matters must also be addressed in equal earnest. As this is not the case, even the helmet norm is appearing rather farcical. In all probability it would also meet with the same fate the government’s drive to confiscate teles without ownership proof sometime ago, which created quite a public flutter. After the initial headline grabs, this initiative simply died the death it was expected to –the authorities lost interest in it. We are for the helmet norms to stay, therefore this plea to make it not an isolated traffic safety exercise. This is also a plea to make it reasonable. Without even announcing a deadline, the authorities, almost as if gripped by a sudden fit put the norm into immediate effect. Even the Imphal market did not have enough stock of the commodity. Again, the norm is also for pillion riders.

While this sounds reasonable considering 2-wheeler accident victims are equally drivers and pillions, there is also the other reality to take into consideration. A lot of the pillions are colleagues of the vehicle owners taking an occasional lift to or from office. How could they be expected to lug along crash helmets daily in case they get a lift on any given day?