SAFETY AS WE INDIANS SEE IT
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:09 pm
Sir,
Without being prejudicial to anyone, I must confess that we Indians are known to be notoriously lethargic when it comes to safety. When an accident or a crime takes place, people aptly attribute it to their FATE and blame the wrath of their favourite deity! And, instead of making an effort to change the way they approach issues, they crush a coconut fruit at the feet of their favourite deity to avert similar incidents. It is commonly seen even today that before embarking on a vehicular journey, every driver lights a few incense sticks and offers a nickel or two with prayers at the base of a peepal tree en route where a godly spirit, that would protect them from accidents, is believed to be seated.
While it is the Fundamental Duty of every citizen of India to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform, our education continues to deliver morons. My head hangs in shame that our education system has not been able to deliver an intellectually mature doctor even after 22 years of continuous learning and development. It is our system and those ruling us alone are to be ashamed of. If this is how a Doctor’s behaviour is crafted by our education, by all means, illiterate Indians will sleep on serviced railway tracks only to be run over.
While the recent grueling death of sixteen migrant workers in Mahashtra on the railway-tracks is a quintessential example of how lightly we Indians regard safety, we have right in front of us scores of cases of agonizing deaths as a result of not taking safety seriously. Here are a few examples:
1) Of the 803 railway accidents that took place in a 6-year period (2009-2015) involving 2373 derailments, 38 collisions, 349 level-crossing accidents, 29 fires in trains and 14 accidents on other counts killing 620 people and injuring 1855, a staggering 86.4% or 694 cases were reported to be due to human failures!
2) Nearly 150,750 people were killed in road accidents across India in 2016, registering an increase of 3.2% over the previous year. Light, Medium and Heavy Trucks, Oil Tankers, Tipper Lorries, the monstrous KSRTC Buses on Kerala roads and several other vehicles are devil incarnate of the “Yama”, the mythological Deity of Death roaming freely about to seize his next victim in less than every 4 minutes! No body appears to be concerned!
Accidents are born out of unsafe conditions. There are various contributory factors, chief among them being the quality of Driving Licenses issued in India, further aggravated by an utter lack of enforcement of traffic regulations on our roads. Our Driving Schools should seriously focus on attaining a certain level of “Driving Discipline” among learners which should be the sole criterion for issuing Driving Licences.
Stricter enforcement of traffic regulations aimed at achieving an acceptable level of “Driving Discipline” on our roads can reduce deaths by more than 80% even in our current road conditions. The current policy of the Traffic Department appears to be “Follow Traffic Rules or Court Disaster”. Enforcement of the Traffic Rules is presently confined to ensuring Seat Belts and Helmets.
3) Closer home, we have the Periyar Lake tragedy killing 45 tourists, the Vembanad Lake tragedy killing 29 passengers, the Boat tragedy near Thettekkad killing 15 children, the Puttingal Temple Fire tragedy killing 111 people – all attributable to not taking safety seriously.
Without being prejudicial to anyone, I must confess that we Indians are known to be notoriously lethargic when it comes to safety. When an accident or a crime takes place, people aptly attribute it to their FATE and blame the wrath of their favourite deity! And, instead of making an effort to change the way they approach issues, they crush a coconut fruit at the feet of their favourite deity to avert similar incidents. It is commonly seen even today that before embarking on a vehicular journey, every driver lights a few incense sticks and offers a nickel or two with prayers at the base of a peepal tree en route where a godly spirit, that would protect them from accidents, is believed to be seated.
While it is the Fundamental Duty of every citizen of India to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform, our education continues to deliver morons. My head hangs in shame that our education system has not been able to deliver an intellectually mature doctor even after 22 years of continuous learning and development. It is our system and those ruling us alone are to be ashamed of. If this is how a Doctor’s behaviour is crafted by our education, by all means, illiterate Indians will sleep on serviced railway tracks only to be run over.
While the recent grueling death of sixteen migrant workers in Mahashtra on the railway-tracks is a quintessential example of how lightly we Indians regard safety, we have right in front of us scores of cases of agonizing deaths as a result of not taking safety seriously. Here are a few examples:
1) Of the 803 railway accidents that took place in a 6-year period (2009-2015) involving 2373 derailments, 38 collisions, 349 level-crossing accidents, 29 fires in trains and 14 accidents on other counts killing 620 people and injuring 1855, a staggering 86.4% or 694 cases were reported to be due to human failures!
2) Nearly 150,750 people were killed in road accidents across India in 2016, registering an increase of 3.2% over the previous year. Light, Medium and Heavy Trucks, Oil Tankers, Tipper Lorries, the monstrous KSRTC Buses on Kerala roads and several other vehicles are devil incarnate of the “Yama”, the mythological Deity of Death roaming freely about to seize his next victim in less than every 4 minutes! No body appears to be concerned!
Accidents are born out of unsafe conditions. There are various contributory factors, chief among them being the quality of Driving Licenses issued in India, further aggravated by an utter lack of enforcement of traffic regulations on our roads. Our Driving Schools should seriously focus on attaining a certain level of “Driving Discipline” among learners which should be the sole criterion for issuing Driving Licences.
Stricter enforcement of traffic regulations aimed at achieving an acceptable level of “Driving Discipline” on our roads can reduce deaths by more than 80% even in our current road conditions. The current policy of the Traffic Department appears to be “Follow Traffic Rules or Court Disaster”. Enforcement of the Traffic Rules is presently confined to ensuring Seat Belts and Helmets.
3) Closer home, we have the Periyar Lake tragedy killing 45 tourists, the Vembanad Lake tragedy killing 29 passengers, the Boat tragedy near Thettekkad killing 15 children, the Puttingal Temple Fire tragedy killing 111 people – all attributable to not taking safety seriously.
