All-round Improvement Necessary
The festive season is just round the corner, and we expect to see a big surge in the sales of new two-wheelers. This is good for the industry, but, at the same time, infrastructure development is not keeping pace with the number of new bikes and cars coming on to the road, resulting in clogged arteries.
Now the bikes are getting faster, have better handling, much better tyres, and very good brakes, but sadly it is taking us much longer to cover the same distance than 20 years ago. This only shows that even with much better bikes, we are actually going slower and taking more time than before. Though the roads are wider than, say, 20 years ago, the surface is far worse today compared to what it used to be two decades back.
The quality of riders on the road has gone down drastically as well, and this makes riding difficult and dangerous at the same time. Somehow people have lost respect for the law, and at the same time the police do not seem to care at times when they see three people riding on a two-wheeler in front of them or people ignoring a red signal. It is not just young boys; it is girls and even older people, and you have to take evasive action to avoid people braking signals or going down the wrong way.
The only way out is to enforce the traffic rules, introduce stricter riding tests, and make it mandatory for all two-wheeler manufacturers to have a rider training programme as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity.
The civic body also has to get its act together to improve the infrastructure. There is not a single road in Pune where you can ride in a straight line; you are constantly having to weave to avoid potholes or manholes, as either they tend to protrude or are dangerously concave.
Aspi Bhathena
Editor
