Drive Safe – Save Life

         ”The lack of safety on roads has become an important obstacle to health and development,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, on the First United Nations Global Road Safety Week, (April 23-27). “Our children and youth are among the most vulnerable. Road traffic crashes are not ‘accidents’, just mere causes of irresponsible driving. We need to challenge the notion that they are unavoidable. Unless the citizens of earth don’t want to come to a disastrous end or maybe extinction of the human race altogether, they MUST realize the importance and urgency of safe driving…”

          I’m positive all of us have, at some at some time or the other, witnessed cars smashed in their sides on a pavement, waited in the havoc that surrounded it and got delayed for work or school. Or if you’ve been around steeper circumstances, you’ve probably seen people with oxygen masks lying beside blood-stained cars on the top of a sheer ridge, and seen broken-down kindred after an unfortunate casualty. So what is the raison d’être for these so-often occurring catastrophes? It’s the 7th leading cause of death – reckless and negligent driving.

          Responsibility, namely responsible drivers play a great role in civilizing the state of today’s perilous world. So who precisely is a responsible driver? Being a safe and responsible driver takes a combination of knowledge, skill and attitude. To begin with, you must know the traffic laws and rules. Breaking them is the key source of collisions. But you need to do more than just abide by the rules. You must be having a bona fide driving license, and must be self-assured about your driving potential. – suppose practice in vacant vicinity prior to actually driving on the road. The drivers most to blame for accidents are youngsters driving without licenses.

          Your attitude matters a lot too. We’ve all seen drivers yelling profanities at each other over the windscreen from time to time – haven’t we? This just helps you get your temper on the rise and fan the flames of the problem -not solve it. So there’s another point – drivers must be enduring and tolerant.

         Because drivers have to co-operate to keep traffic moving safely, you must also be predictable, doing what other people on the road expect you to do; which means giving other drivers space to change lanes. It also includes signaling your own lane changes properly and not at the last instant – that gives rise to uncertainty, and confusion is really deadly at the wheel.

          You must also care about the safety of others on the road. Everyone is responsible for avoiding collisions. Even if someone else does something wrong, you may be found responsible for a collision if you could have done something to circumvent it – YOU MUST BE RESPONSIBLE. You must be able to see dangerous situations before they happen and to react promptly and effectively to prevent them. This kind of “defensive driving” is based on three ideas: visibility (be aware of traffic positions, and make sure other drivers can see you), space (Leaving space around your vehicle lets you be seen and gives you time avoid a mishap) and communication (signaling to others whenever you want to slow down, turn or change lanes – to make sure they know what you are doing.)

          Then of course – the eminent rule that you must not talk on the phone while driving. Several investigations have proved that you are four times more likely to encounter a road accident while on the phone – because undeniably it’s difficult to concentrate on two things at the same time. This means that either your friend will slam down the phone in disgust at your meaningless mono-syllables, or you’ll end up in disaster. The former may cause a break-up, but at any rate you’ll live to apologize!!

          Seat belts and airbags play an important role in ‘responsible driving’ too. We’ve all seen people on the motor bikes with children in their arms. Is that safe?? The answer is obviously against the affirmative. But how many drivers actually stop and ask that from themselves? In other words, how many drivers are what you might call responsible?

         How would you regard the fact that, according to a survey conducted in Oman, safety considerations are a distant 6th factor of importance influencing the purchase of a car after price, performance, fuel economy, image and spare parts availability,? Or that by their own admission, only 30% of drivers concentrate exclusively on driving when behind the wheel? That 60% of drivers admit to using mobile phones both to receive and make calls while driving, and nearly 50% of drivers admit to exceeding the speed limit by an average 24 km/hr??? Its irresponsible driving, and a hazardous threat indeed to mankind that includes you – legal consequences faced by you like jail and fine.

          Today, in the third millennium and 21st century, in a death-defying world of crime, unrest, insecurity, and amidst the ruthless race to compete and to control – the most drivers can do to contribute to the attempt to make this world a calmer place, is to be a responsible driver. Human beings should be aware and spread awareness on “Driving safe and saving lives as a result” by competitions, conferences, leaflets, articles and advertisements. Examples are campaign films like “Doesn’t your child deserve a safe ride” and World Day of Remembrance for road crash victims that was the 19th of November, 2006. People who do that must be promoted and approved of. So here’s the précis: drivers should realize the crucial need of their responsibility in today’s brutal world. They should comprehend that tranquility and harmony for one and all should no longer be a distant dream – that the key to that treasure, irrespective of where it lay once, now lies with their responsibility – that the doubtless result to it would be a peaceful mother earth, so that its citizens are secure and protected, today and forever.