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Satyawan Malik
The appeal made by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattat to people to avoid road accidents in the season of mist is meaningful. Even otherwise, Haryana requires road sense to make travelling easy and safe. On December 24 last year, over 50 vehicles collided on the Rohtak-Rewari highway, leaving seven dead and many seriously injured.
In fact, civility on roads in Haryana is hugely lacking, often leading to fatal accidents like the one in Karnal in which two schoolchildren were killed. The issues of road rage and fatalities caused due to non-observance of traffic rules need urgent attention.
Around 15 persons die in road accidents in the state every day and more than 30 are seriously injured. Hit-and-run cases accounting for nearly half of the total accidents speak of the public apathy. Haryana is among the worst states with regard to hazardous driving. Gurugram alone accounts for above 10 per cent of the total accidents and fatalities. In most of the cases, people have been found not wearing seat belts or helmets, and a majority of the accident victims have no valid driving licence.
In many countries such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and Luxembourg anyone desiring to have a driving licence has to take strict theory and practical tests. In Haryana, acquiring a driving licence is a child’s play, thus rule violations, road accidents and fatalities. The use of mobile phone while driving a vehicle has emerged as one of the main causes of serious mishaps. Reckless honking of horns, no sense of zebra-crossing, and risking life to cross railway barriers are common occurrences. Traffic signboards, where ever they exist, largely go unnoticed or have been defaced. Three or four sugarcane-loaded trolleys towed by a tractor playing loud music look like a mini-train running on road.
Trucks, trolleys and canters overloaded with wheat chaff ply with impunity, posing danger to other travcllers, as these can overturn anytime. Using a mobile phone and smoking a cigarette while driving are an invitation to accidents.
Young motorcyclists driving dangerously fast or three or four persons riding a bike in an open defiance of traffic rules are a common sight. Encroachments extending onto roads, blocking of roads for public or religious functions and stray cattle are other kinds of nuisance. The state authorities need to take stringent measures to ensure traffic rules are followed, violators are punished and travelling on roads is made safer.
(The writer is Associate Professor of English, Government College, Jind)
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