Everybody seems to be having a sigh of relief as the roads now are being repaired on a full-scale war-footing especially in Dimapur town. Thanks to the R&B department and our honorable minister who is being in person himself to supervise all the ongoing works and has proved all his critics wrong by showing everyone that he’s a man of his words, a man of action. Actions do indeed speak louder than our words.
After every negativity comes some positivity, the cycle goes on and on and in a modern society various priorities has to be adapted to the changing times, keeping road safety measures in this matter. After the repair works being done comes now a spurt in road accidents due to rash and negligent driving and failure to put some long-term control on over-speeding, underage and overage driving, driving under influence (DUI) be it alcohol or drug. The administration and the traffic deptt. should take due consideration and place some speed-breakers in places where frequent accidents takes place or in sensitive areas such as schools, colleges, churches, main junctions etc. A recent road-hazard about two weeks ago ironically just after some days after the Road Safety Week ,where a non-local vegetable seller was ran-over by a truck in 4th mile highway area and its photos of which were being circulated on social networking sites almost made me start retching seeing all the body parts, limbs and organs lying scattered on the road. Not any week passes by without some road mishap of different degrees of casualty. So we ought to really work soon on some precautionary measures not only for our own safety but as well as others too. I remember an accident which happened some years ago on a New Year’s Eve when two young boys who were going back home from a church service while pushing their scooter on a side after having some mechanical defect on this same highway were run-over and killed by a speeding Bolero from behind. Many countless mishaps of small and medium vehicles ramming into stationery trucks or buses on highway are very common and sure will lost count. These are not just some stray accidents or incidents or some matter to be taken in a lighter vein but should teach us some lessons about being safe on our roads. There are some rules not to put speed-breakers or speed-bumps on highways for efficiency and to keep proper momentum of traffic movement yet around the town area some urgent steps need to be taken. Some of the most accident-prone areas where frequent accidents, some of which are often fatal, takes place almost every day or the other are;
1. Dhobinala to DC court junction, especially the Shamrock hospital and the West P.S. stretch till the firing areas, Duncan-Fellowship-PWD-Supply colony junction areas with the line-autos carrying over loads of passengers and speeding.
2. City Tower to DC court junction, especially the Zinyu Gas Agency junction and the Nagaland Post office areas, Metro hospital junction, Notun Basti junctions area via the Morung Express office areas where every vehicles of different types and army convoy trucks and buses are always on full-speed with no one to monitor .The Lengrijan junction, popularly known as the Emlee-ghas junction too is growing risky for children with a new montessori school being established and number of vehicles increasing daily.
3. Khermahal traffic point to the old fly-over near Tragopan Hotel. Army trucks and buses moving to-and fro from the transit camp near the Dimapur Sumi Baptist Church banging and crashing on vehicles are a regular scene in this area.
4. The Walford area stretch from the Burma Camp traffic point via Dr.Belho’s clinic to the Supermarket junction. Vehicles speeding in this spot is really a fearsome matter for the residents.
5. The NH-29 stretch from Purana Baazar to Chumukedima where the maximum number of accidents and casualties takes place very often. Traffic points need to be built in Naharbari, Padum-pukhuri, Diphupar-gate, Green park junction areas as in the case of Central jail junction.
Other by lanes and bottle-necks of various localities are no exceptions, of course. What attributes to the majority of the road accidents here in our place can be contributed solely to the factor of rash and negligent driving and mainly driving under influence as one officer friend in the transport deptt. told me while having a chat about this topic. While the least and hardly can be blamed on mechanical which do rarely happens but not so in most of these cases. We cannot any longer linger on old-wives tales believing that these roads and highways are haunted by ghosts and evil-spirits.
Makes one wonder how some private individuals and influential people can put up these speed-breakers in front of their private gates of their residence but yet the authorities do not put it in some accident-prone main roads where heavy vehicular traffic movements and commuting takes place daily. Sometime ago, I inquired a foreman of a prominent contractor/supplier in Nepali Basti link-road who has put up not even one but two speed-breakers in front of his gate, as it was causing much nuisance for commuters in that particular narrow link-road where many vehicles used it as a passage to escape from the town’s traffic snarls especially during the school hours, he coolly replied that they had been granted permission by an engineer of the deptt. for their goods-laden trucks. This is just another one of a many instances in many colonies. Whether it is only about safety or for their own convenience should also be looked after by the concerned authorities as many localities have countless of these speed-bumps at every unnecessary places to serve their own interest.
Places around many Montessori schools like the Hope Academy and Don Bosco School where heavy traffic is experienced need some speed-breakers for the safety of school going children. I have witnessed myself many accidents in this place where I even had one sometime back when one biker sped in from the by-lane of the River-belt colony like in some moto-crossing race who nearly knocked some school going children and crashed into my car. It was fortunate no human casualty took place. Zebra- crossings should be start using in our roads to give safety to our pedestrians. One such near Holy Cross School and Deluxe Point Bata Charali have already vanished. Needless to say, our drivers here seems to be the most impolite and are always in some hurry as they cannot even hardly put their foot on the brake-pedal for some few seconds and let some pedestrians pass by or when some vehicles wanting to come from their parking spot our ever-hurry drivers cannot let them peacefully even though there is a heavy traffic jam right in front. They will obviously be polite and courteous enough only when they want your parking spot. Funny but true. Ladies may dislike reading this but seems they are more ahead in terms of impoliteness and road-rage. I once was very amused while waiting for a refill in a petrol pump, a lady who seems to be from an affluent background, judging from the way she dressed and the swanky expensive car she was driving, screeched in on full speed at the filling station and started honking her car horn non-stop at every cars and autos that was in front to move aside who were even there before her .A worker there sardonically remarked ‘Here comes our Maharani Gayatri Devi’ and everyone was having a hearty laugh. Money sure can never buy class or some etiquette .Wish it does in times like this.
Many prominent schools in the heart of the town do not allow the vehicles of their school children inside their campuses while dropping or picking them or park them du e to numerous reasons like causing accidents, disturbances due to honking of horns during class hours and endangering the students. But should a proper time be set and different entry-exit gates be made so that much of the Dimapur’s traffic snarls will be relieved at least to some extend but it depends upon the administration to look into the matter. Around the main town area there is not much need for these speed-breakers as most of the time traffic congestion is present for the whole day and it will make matters worse without the constant pace of vehicular movements. Comes night time, then our wannabes Schumachers and Hamiltons after some hours of heavy partying, binge drinking in all the countless bars and pubs of our ‘Dry-state’ takes the scene making their nocturnal presence felt by heavy sounding exhaust engines breaking the neighbourhood sound barriers and making our roads into their race-course roads not putting only others life at risk but disturbing the whole peaceful sleeping community. Many a times, they are responsible for the damaging of the road dividers and also ending up in hospitals for stitches and bandages.
To add to the woes, every little junction seems to becoming a parking-zone for autorickshaws, tata-mobiles and mal-autos adding our traffic jams more and more and where different types of scratches, grazes, dents and cuts are now experienced by every car owners and it is not just the big cities one needs to be there to get all these marks and spots for free. Instead of becoming a means of transport and communication, these autos seems to be overtaking the town’s population itself and becoming more of a nuisance than a means of convenience. Some limit of their permits should be also taken into consideration by the transport deptt.
Regular checking of driving licenses, proper vehicular documents, breath-analyzers, enforcing speed limits to curb road accidents and proper implementation of road-safety measures needs to be done at the earliest to make one safe when one goes out of home. Using of mobile phones during driving has been responsible for many accidents and it seems to be impossible to check this menace even after some court ruling. Drivers should opt for hands-free devices while driving for the safety of everyone. Playing very loud music in cars also distracts many drivers and some years back the Delhi Police has termed this as ‘Attention-Seeking Act’ which is responsible for many car-crashes as the music diverts most of the driver’s concentration.
According to the International Transport Forum the chances for survival for an unprotected pedestrian hit by a vehicle diminish rapidly at speeds greater than 30 km/hr whereas for motorists it is 50 km/hr for side impacts while for head-on collisions it is 70 km/hr. A report published by the WHO in 2004 , a decade back, said that more than one million people are killed every year in road accidents and over 50 million injured in traffic collisions. Most of these mishaps occur in developing countries and more than half of it could have been prevented had some safety measures were properly implemented. And in the present decade statistics sure is increasing with the population and number of vehicles increasing.
Speed limits should be properly enforced by putting speed-traps or speed cameras by vigilantes and concerned authorities. It is said that road designs affects the severity of human injuries and fatality as it have a great impact on vehicular speed and movement. For pedestrians also, proper raised side-walks with good width will ensure more safety. Vehicle indicator lights, brake lights, reverse lamps, parking lights and wipers must be properly inspected at regular intervals to prevent accidents. Also use of dipper at nights should be made certain by properly educating drivers and having a civic sense by every one of us. Overtaking seems to be the necessary-evil in many of the road mishaps and our VIPs and their escorts are the best rowdies on roads. Many of them think the roads belong and were built for them alone. A traffic cop in Meghalaya was awarded for fining the Governor’s car for stopping at a no-parking area some decades back. Can our cops too be like that? A home guard police on duty on his daily round once ran after a Scorpio with a headlight which had crossed a ‘No-Entry’ sign near the Durga Mandir sometime back and made it turn back. When he was offered some good cash by the VIP and his PS to let them go, the honest and the brave cop said ‘Sir, I maybe poor but my salary is enough for me and my family’. Can our other cops top that? Surely he deserves an award too. Use of high-powered halogen bluish lamps are banned as it cause invisibility on cars coming from opposite directions so it should be made sure no one uses them lest it caused accidents. In many places smoking and drinking are banned while driving but it seems to be more increasing here in our place day by day but no one bothers. With easy to buy used cars at very cheap rates flooding our local dailies and also ever-ready to sell parked alongside our highways any one can sit behind the wheels if you have the dough at the cost of endangering other’s lives. With the easy availability of car loans by the banks competing among themselves so is our increase in traffic maladies. With very narrow roads in our towns of which half or two-third is used for parking purpose, needless to say about our civic sense, all thanks to our sense of civility and self-discipline many park their cars almost in the middle of the roads. The allowing of trucks, oil-tankers etc. during the rush hour especially during the school and office going time should be revised. Cities like Shillong and other hill-towns who have narrow roads allow them to enter the main crowded town roads only at a special timing, i.e, after 9 pm and before 6 am. Even the North-east cities Guwahati, Imphal and Shillong have started building parking lots. If space permits ,our highways should have utility areas by the side of the roads for stop-over and other purposes as our autos seems to make random stoppage and rush in whenever and wherever they please making accidents highly inevitable.
As shortage of man-power in our state seems to be a main reason to enforce all rules and regulations, let us all be responsible citizens and work for the common good. With no plans in near future for making parking-lots, ‘only walk-zones’, mandatory basement parking spaces for roadside buildings and encroachment of sidewalks and footpaths due to our selfishness the problems seems to be only getting worst. The daily increasing number of road-accidents is indeed a worrisome trend as everybody uses roads to commute and ply.
Jonah Achumi, Dimapur
