Traffic Ethics – To Stop or Not?

Hello all,

Bassameir. E of Chennai (in U.S. as of now) has written an article for
CarWale.com. The article is about traffic ethics. Please find the link below to access the article.

Traffic Ethics – To Stop or Not?

Please do not forget to write your comments.

There sure are going to be people who will add to it, revile towards it, but there will be people, a lot of them rather, who will absolutely love it. I am not saying this just because Bassameir has written something that is a general phenomenon on Indian roads and every one of us reading it have experienced this quite a few times.

What I like about this article is that it is not an article. It is more of feelings flowing right from the heart which have been given a subtle form in ink.

Good effort Bassameir, I urge you to write more.

Yup a very well written of course hope they will apply it on our roads soon ,

Cheers,
Sri

A nicely drafted articles with examples of what we see in everyday life. He is very correct in saying that normal Indians get really shocked in western countries when they see a driver stop by the Stop line to let them cross the road. However, most us do believe that getting risking an accident, getting hurt or causing hurt, even getting into a brawl (atleast in Delhi its a very common sight, and some of them have even turned fatal), is all nothing when compared to saving a few seconds. My practical experience has always showed me that driving rash or within all the rules hardly makes a difference of around 5 minutes in a one hour trip.
I am sure most people would love to follow rules but the only argument you would get is "everyone does it, so do I". Once this mis-conception clears, hopefully things will improve.

A lovely article.  I would briefly say that it is not that we are not aware of the traffic rules & signals - most of us have the awareness but we behave irresponsibly. 

Amongst the many things, I liked two things about the article the most - we should consider that other vehicles (small or big) have the equal right to be on the road, and that, we should drive with commonsense.  The plight is not that we don't have the commonsense but that, that we don't use the sense so commonly.

Great to see an article that exudes outright passion. What can we say when passion meets writing skill.

Typical daily happenings portrayed in a very mature way with a tinge of humour, yet retaining the seriousness of the issue.

I quelled some amount of fury (due to erratic riders/drivers and dastardly manouvers I witness everyday) thanks to this article, which, definitely is, the need of the hour.

With accidents and deaths resulting from it skyrocketing like hell (have seen and heard about them aplenty during recent times), and being a serious auto-enthusiast, we must instill education in the minds of those who take pride in flouting traffic rules, no matter how. Good to see that Bassameir, on his maiden article to carwale (learnt from the forum) has done his bit in making people realise this (at least the careless souls who accidentally read this article and the likes of it).

Carwale, great to read this article. Thanks to bassameir too. Eagerly awaiting even more high-quality articles from you guys. All th best.

 

I wish to add that use of mobile while driving is very dangerous & has led to many fatal accidents.  Though it is banned, and we are aware of it, we care the least to desist from using it.

It's great,Bassameir.Your narrative reminds me of the story of old Mrs Alice Bird who was killed for having crossed the road 'without due care'.Your point that the pedestrian too has equal right on the road as much as the motorist is a fact that is to be underlined.The motorability of our roads also deserves mention.The authorities have succeeded in making the roads most unmotorable and that also has its own contribution in making the matters worse.Thanx Bassameir,you have done a good service.

                                                   Shanawaz TP  (Mak), Feroke

Baasee....the article was great. Loved reading it .but baasee In India , If and only if fines are levied, only then will our people follow the rules. In the beginning people will follow the rules out of fear and as time passes, slowly the awareness will fall into place. Our people will not change, otherwise. This is ofcourse, my view.Thats for sure.

Anyways,keep it going Baasee. all the best

 

Preethi,

More or less I agree with you, however I would never want people to follow rules/regulations out of fear.

I have an interesting example of people-made traffic rules.

The scene is Arenza sqare in Vashi. Red signal is counting 120, 119, 118... A truck, two cars and one mini-bus stopped where they were supposed to stop. Then came an auto-rikshaw, passing all of them, and stopped in the front row. Then came a Maruti Alto and stopped ahead of auto. A few bikes and a scooter stopped ahead of Alto. Signal is counting 90, 89, 88... and the front row has intruded at least 20 feet so far.

Signal is 60, 59, 58... and front has moved 5-6 feet further, signal is 40, 39, 38... and they have blocked almost entire road ahead and have reached halfway of circle. 25, 24, 23... and there they go. Traffic moved without caring for the traffic on the intersecting side. Green came and gone, red came again. 120, 119, 118 and here comes an Indica zooming ahead, just saving itself from banging a bike coming from right.

This cycle repeats hundreds of times everyday. No matter there is a cop available or not.

Now imagine I was in one of the cars in the same aggressive traffic. I wanted to honor traffic ethics. Wanted to remain idle till signal goes green. But everybody behind me was honking like anything. They made me realize that I am committing some kind of crime. 'Everybody is moving, why ain't you? Are you special?'

Sometimes, you can influence people to stop till it goes green but sometimes conditions are so worse that you might end up fighitng. This is what make me realize, yes, we should be punished, fined for breaking rules. But I don't feel good realizing this fact!