Monsoon and Senseless Mumbai Drivers

Monsoon Rains finally arrived in Mumbai on the 24th June, a Wednesday. This is the worst delay of the monsoon in over a decade for Mumbai. May be the El Nino effect ? Though the rains have arrived, so far it has been a big drizzle, intermittent though. The real rains for which Mumbai is famous for, haven’t yet arrived.

Well, rains are badly needed as the health of the agricultural economy of India is dependent largely on the timely arrival of the south-west monsoon. Bad rains spell bad numbers on the stock exchange in Mumbai !

Rains do not in any way deter the bad drivers of Mumbai. They still accelerate on pot-holed roads (to be filled with more pot holes as the rains increase in intensity over the next few weeks), do not follow road rules, beat the red signals, overtake indiscriminately, and do all the unnecessary things on roads likely to lead to a collision. And, they pat themselves when such accidents do not happen, as though they are road warriors and heroes !

One of their bad and dangerous habits is overtaking a bus or lorry, switching on their headlights, and try to get their way ahead in the face of oncoming high-speed traffic. Their assumption is that their head lights will deter the oncoming traffic to slow down, though they are coming rightfully on their lane ! Sometimes, this assumption could turn false.

I saw a very bad accident in Bandra Flyover this morning, where a Lexus LX470 (does India need such cars ?!!) had collided with three other cars and then crossed over the barrier into the other side of the highway. Excesses like these should be punished. Given the fact that it was raining, and also the fact that such large cars have momentum to cause huge damage, the least that can be done is to adopt a defensive driving posture. But how do we deliver that education to drivers who usually come from the rural villages, and not to be undone, to educated but haughty and rash young drivers of the urban land ? When most of the driving licenses are obtained through non-traditional methods ? When the new money has gone to the heads of the urban drivers ? When the law enforcement officials do not exercise their powers properly ? When there are no speed cameras, and no deterrence to bad behaviour ? When the rich and famous have caused damage on the roads, even killing poor people sleeping on the pavements, and then the prosecution cases languish in courts of law, they go scot-free, partying all the time ?

Well, this is why an unyielding law enforcement mechanism like what exists in Singapore, or the U.S./Japan, becomes an essential component of society’s well-being. The government of the day should take a very firm and clear view of how to ensure prosecution of offenders. They have to have a witness protection system in place. Policemen should be paid well, in line with the top five or six public service professions in the country.

Well, that may be a dream, but well worth dreaming !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
25th June 2009
Mumbai