Who cares?!

This morning, a woman in a blue Ford suddenly came in the lane of black punto. He shifted his lane to avoid the crash and came into bicycler's lane. Thankfully, there wasnt any bicycler there! Otherwise, he would have died.

And then, lots of tooting followed. 

When I saw the lady in the blue car, I noticed that she was on the phone and also, with "HT Food guide" on her steering wheel and it looked like that she doesn't know where she was going. The guy in the black car consequently rolled down his window and started abusing . 

It wasn't a new thing to see in a place like Delhi, but the reason that I write about this today is precisely that — it has become commonplace.

During my daily commute, I see drivers blaring, showing the middle finger, changing lanes perilously and running over people walking.

And then there are people who keep messaging, attending calls, applying kajal and lip gloss, watching a DVD (yes, I’ve seen that!!), reading the newspaper, painting their nails, eating and turning around to feed their babies at the back — these are the people who are the reason for such disorder. We have the laws to ensure that such things dont happen. But who cares?

It amazes me to see how people forget that they are not only responsible for their families travelling with them but also everyone else whose travelling on road.

And it’s not until they meet an accident that they realize such deportment. But isn't it too late then?

What do they gain from those extra ten seconds? How do they agree to put their lives in danger just to make in that green signal? How can they be so uncivil, so unkind? Why can’t they stop somewhere to finish their lunch and then move on — all it will take is five minutes! Can’t that lip gloss be postponed till they reach the parking lot of wherever they are headed? Can’t they tell the person on the phone to call back later? 

As per WHO, it’s estimated that 1.2 million people die on world’s roads every year and about 50 million are injured. The road safety record of India is abysmal - every year, more than 1,00,000 lives are lost in road accidents. In addition, this also results in disruption and huge economic, social losses. 

I cant find any explanation for such utter disregard of life, but I hope some of you reading this will recognize this as an opportunity to amend your ways and ask those unsafe drivers in your life to amend theirs..