Drive safe, stay safe

We are living in an era of science and technology which has made our lives safe and luxurious. We have several hi-tech vehicles on road of various sizes and makes which have the capacity to cover long distances in short time. But due to various factors including human error, these vehicles are meeting with series of accidents which are claiming precious lives. 

The latest is the ghastly accident in which N Harikrishna, TDP politburo member and son of former Chief Minister N T Rama Rao, died near Narketpally on Wednesday. In fact, the Narketpally area is known to be an accident zone and a large number of accidents have been taking place for long. It is time the government reviewed the situation and made this stretch safe for road journey. 

A review of road engineering needs to be taken up particularly on express highways whether it is NH 65 or Rajiv Rahadari. Many vehicles on these roads travel at far high speeds though the speed limit is 80 kmph. Besides fatal speeds, not following traffic rules is resulting in mishaps. In fact, an Assembly panel had found about 60 curves from Shameerpet to Siddipet to be about accident-prone. There are many villages adjacent to the highways and unfortunately the people do not take precautions and often violate the traffic rules. 

The villagers tend to come onto the highways from wrong side to cover a short distance. At many junctions, they even attempt to cross the roads as they are no proper service roads connecting both sides of the highways. One also finds several openings on the highways. If you drive from Hyderabad to Vijayawada one would find several U-turns. 

Worse, there are any number of T junctions. The drivers in our country are not properly trained to ply vehicles even on city roads. Driving on highways is different from driving on city roads but then we don’t give a damn and bother about safety measures. 

A majority of drivers don’t have the habit of wearing seat belts even during city drive. They hurriedly try to put it on when they see traffic police and remove it the minute they cross the police post. Even professional drivers including those who drive government vehicles are no exception. On highways, hardly anyone wears a seat belt. 

“Kaun dekhega” is the attitude. Though many precious lives are being lost on city roads due to two-wheeler drivers not wearing helmet, people don’t realise the importance of it. What is worse is the policemen who happily hand over a challan slips to violators themselves don’t bother to wear helmet and are seen speaking on mobile phones while driving. “Hum police hain,” they feel forgetting that police is also human and could lose life if one meets with an accident. 

LIFE’S A PRECIOUS GIFT. Let not one careless and irresponsible act destroy its beauty forever. Let us resolve not to become victims to the hazardous killer roads. Let’s solemnly pledge to drive within safe limits.