You must have
read about how drivers in Andhra Pradesh’s public transport have transformed
because their dashboards carry photographs of their wives and children.
“Every driver leaves home promising his family that he’d return home safe. A soft reminder of his family motivates him to be alert. This has gone down well with the drivers.”
I am not too
gung-ho about it. One is aware that this bit of news has been highlighted
because the Delhi gang-rape took place in a bus and it has been mentioned in
the reports, although there is no connection at all.
My point is that
not all drivers would be married. Besides, many dashboards have some talisman
or icon of deities. Since religion is a huge factor in the lives of many, why
does the fear of god not make these people careful? Why do they imbibe alcohol?
Rash driving is simply a case of bad drivers – licences are bought by rookies
after paying the RTO officers. Then there are bad roads, poor lighting, lack of
proper road signs, no concept of road etiquette, both by drivers and pedestrians.
And why blame
only public transport. What about private vehicles? Check the number of
accidents caused by fancy wheels, and with prominent people behind them.
There is a fine
for using mobile phones while driving as it diverts attention. Will not looking
lovingly at the photograph on the dashboard have the same effect? If we wish to
take a psychological look, then rash driving may have something to do with a
sense of insecurity that suddenly finds a tantalising stretch that can be
conquered by wearing blinkers, so to speak. There is no one in the line of
vision except the road ahead. The cocky look in the rear-view mirror is only to
make sure that no one overtakes one’s own road. This is a spatial phenomenon,
where ‘I own this territory because it is under my feet’ prevails.
I am merely
giving a flipside argument, because we really need to get our act together rather
than resort to filmi prototypes.
