From Bad to Worse:
ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS THE COUNTRY IS FACING TODAY IS
chaotic traffic, and the situation seems to be going from bad to worse by the day. The other day a car had a fl at tyre while in the fast lane of the Pune-Mumbai expressway. To save the tyre from further damage the driver parked the car in the fast lane instead of taking it to the hard shoulder. This led to a bus hitting the car and going off into a ditch, resulting in the death of 17 people and more than double that number getting injured. All this just because the driver did not want to drive the car with a punctured tyre. The driver of this car should be tried for manslaughter and not for a traffic offence.
The RTO and police are supposed to have clamped down on traffic offenders on the expressway but you still see buses and trucks in the fast lane, which is actually meant for overtaking only and not constant driving. The expressway has a design fault in the mountain section under the Amrutanjan underpass where it directs the heavy traffic on to the right side and cars to the left. The use of hazard lights in the tunnels — I don’t know which idiot started this practice — has now become a trend. A number of drivers switch on the hazard lights instead of the headlights.
The expressway authorities should put on all the lights in the tunnel during the day and half of them during the night. As it is bright durnig the day you need bright lights in the tunnel because it takes time for the eyes to adjust to the difference.
It is up to each one of us to be considerate to one and another and look out for the safety of fellow road-users. Think twice before you go down the wrong way to save that half a kilometre of extra driving.
EDITOR – ASPI BHATHENA
