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No Alternative to Strict Discipline

I was in Guwahati, Assam, last month for an event and there were a couple of traffic-related aspects that struck me while I was driving in that beautiful north-eastern city. One was the fact that both the rider and the pillion rider were seen wearing helmets while riding a two-wheeler. The second was the discipline that I witnessed on the road. I saw people follow traffic rules punctiliously: no one violated traffic signals and no one was inclined to drive/ride on the wrong side of the road in case of a traffic jam.

When you speak to people in Pune as to why they do not like wearing a helmet while riding a two-wheeler, the main excuse offered is that the weather is very hot. The second is that the helmet restricts their vision and that it is cumbersome having to lug it around after parking the two-wheeler. Most probably, the excuse of restricted vision stems from the fact that they do not bother to look at their rear-view mirrors. As for the other excuse, there are places like Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Kochi (Kerala) where the climate tends to be much more humid than in Pune but people still wear helmets because the law is implemented rigorously by the traffic police there.

When we were growing up in Pune, riding a bicycle in the night without the light would result in the police stopping us and deflating the tyres. The neat upshot was that we would have to walk back home trundling the bicycle along. The same punishment was meted out if one was caught riding “double seat”. Today, however, three or even four persons astride a two-wheeler go scot-free; the police neither stop them nor fine them. Interestingly, the same traffic police tend to stop you if you happen to ride/drive a vehicle bearing a registration number-plate from some other state of the country.

Touching upon another aspect of discipline, some festivals took place last month and the decibel level of the music blaring out on the loudspeakers there was so high that one could not help being assailed by it even a kilometre away. If one happened to be driving past in a car, the whole vehicle would vibrate on account of the blast. Conversely, if you happen to be riding a slightly loud motorcycle, the police will stop you and fine you even without checking the decibel level.

It is high time all the traffic rules and regulations were enforced both in letter and spirit without exception.