60 sec to think- ROAD SAFETY

       Red, green, amber beautiful colours aren’t they? So what is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say Red, green amber?

I asked the same question to many people including my friends and colleagues. Few said precious gems, few plainly said nothing.Dissatisfied with the answers that I got, i continued to ask the question to all the people i meet. When i asked a 3rd standard kid in my locality what he gets reminded of red, green, yellow

He said "akka traffic signal” and the thing that surprised me the most was when he said "akka traffic light la it is not yellow, it is amber" !!!.. Kids these days are smarter than we think they are!:)

So this simply proves that we tend to forget all the things that we learn, after few years. We forgot not only what these colours stand for but also the rules behind each colours. I think it is high time we borrow a book from a 3rd standard and read what are traffic signals and traffic rules. How many of us really know what these symbols and hand signals stand for??

image source:google

Few years ago when i was about to get my driving license, my dad gave me a sheet of paper that had all the traffic symbols in it and said " there will be an online test where you will be asked to answer questions on the traffic rules, so better prepare". As i badly wanted to get the license i read the whole sheet and went well prepared, but to my dismay when i sat in front of the system to give my test, a person came and said " you don’t answer any questions, i will answer everything, you go " i was shocked to see what was happening. So people don't even bother to know what these rules and symbols are for.

The thing that annoys me the most is that, even when the signal shows red, few people don't bother to stop and when a rule abiding person stops he/she will have to bear the scolding from these irresponsible people. The funny thing is that when there is a police in the signal people stop and wait without any patience for 53 sec and when the timer comes to 55th second they start moving not bothering about the people who are crossing the roads. What i wonder is when they can wait for 55 sec why can’t they wait for 5 more seconds? What will they achieve in 5 sec??

The most dangerous of all these "i-will-not-follow-rules" behavior is driving on the wrong side, especially the auto walas. There is no one to stop them including the police person. They have a don't care policy for everything; they go hit a person and say it was that persons fault that he was walking on the service lane. Service lanes seem to have been constructed for the cars and the auto walas and the 2 wheelers and for people who want to move in the wrong side. Again those people who choose to go by cycles or the ones who choose "nadaraja service" are the sufferers. They again have to choose to go either on the dangerous main roads or the "not-so-safe" service lanes. The situation is really doleful.

There are so many warning boards like "drive safe, wear helmets, speed limits,and many other" But we prefer to read the cinema posters on the other side of the wall, than to notice these traffic signals and warning boards. And speed limits, do we know what that means? When we hit the main road a clone of Schumacher gets into us and we think the main road is a F1 race track.

Why don't we follow rules and the traffic signals for just one day and see how much difference it makes to us. Let’s not do this for others safety but for our own!!

P.S: i have written this after seeing an accident on the OMR. Thank god it was not a serious one and there was no loss of life. Let’s follow rules and traffic signals to avoid such incidents. Let’s create awareness and let everyone know about this.

4th to 10th of March every year is considered to be National safety week and this is the 42nd National safety week that we are celebrating. In the company that I work for we were asked to take a Safety pledge and here I am sharing the pledge with everyone here so that we do something on our part to prevent the Road accidents.

“On this day I <> solemnly affirm that

I will rededicate myself to the cause of safety,

Health and protection of environment and will do

My best to observe rules, regulations, guidelines

                                           And habits conducive for achieving these objectives

I fully realize that accidents and diseases are a drain

On the national economy and may lead to

Disablement deaths, harm to health and damage

To property, social suffering and general

Degradation of environment.

I will do everything possible for the prevention of

Accidents and occupational diseases and

Protection of environment in the interest of self,

Family, community, organization and the nation at large".