When the new motor vehicle rules were declared to be in force, the enforcement agencies of all kinds got superbly active to chase vehicle riders and drivers wherever they had the opportunity to stop and look for documents. All hell broke loose and the public got so wild with rage that they in turn stopped police vehicles and sought to know if documents were in possession of the officials. Nearly all auto users including two-wheelers through cars to multi-axle gigantic lorries had problems. The drivers could not come up with satisfactory documents. The new rules make it mandatory to even have in possession non-polluting certificates. The whole country went berserk, particularly the young students who had been routinely treated as innocent. The big lorries and trailer carriers too got into trouble as the authorities never found it logical to stop them and look for documents as that would cause horrible traffic snarls.
While the rest of the country was suffering like mad more due to lack of awareness than lawlessness, Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik administration chose to be compassionate enough and grant a three-month relaxation so as to let the people obtain all necessary documents to ply on roads with dignity. The authorities opened extra counters all over the State and worked even on Sundays to facilitate easy issuance of documents.
The rules to make people disciplined are welcome. But the idea of discarding 15-year-old vehicles irrespective of fitness is a flawed one. There are thousands of such vehicles kept in mint condition. At the same time, there are three-year-old cars and motorcycles that need scrapping. It is actually how a vehicle is maintained rather than how old it is, shouldbe considered before discarding a vehicle. In India, people buy vehicles, particularly cars, as a lifelong durable good. Most of the car users develop deep sentiments about the vehicles that have carried them far and wide, taken bridegroom and newly married couples and saved lives of people for having been rushed to hospitals in time in those vehicles. Besides, moat middleclass Indians take half a lifetime to save money to buy a car. Nearly every car owner takes big pride in keeping it in mint condition. They do not once believe it is antiquated or out of its time or no more worthy. So, the rule of having to discard vehicles on the basis of age is a misplaced logic and needs rethinking.
In the US and the UK, the standard validity is based on the miles a vehicle has done. The standard practice followed by second-hand buyers is to look for 2,50,000 km or 15 years marks. If it’s below these marks, they buy willingly; if above these figures, they haggle like mad. Most ancient cars have great value in the West. They keep modifying extremely old models to prove engineering calibre and show off. These cars are fairly expensive to buy.
Indians can’t buy cars every 15 years. This ‘15 year discard' rule can apply to commercial vehicles which keep running nonstop and the wear and tear are at an extremely high rate. But private vehicles hardly lose their lustre or gleam even in 20 years, especially when the owners are sentimentally attached to them. All Indians, Muslims and Hindus alike worship vehicles because it is considered something like a celestial mount for them. Most significantly, if vehicles are discarded as often as in 15 years, the amounts of refuse, scrap and litter that will generate are bound to confound civic authorities and throw civic systems into complete disarray. One needs to know that the plastic and other synthetic parts that are put in the dump yard are nearly impossible to dispose of in a clean manner. Further, making of new vehicles require enormous energy that is produced by polluting air water and land surface.
The Western countries have vast stretches of land and least people. They have more resources with them than they need. They have no dumping yard problems. They have the systems to recycle or sell back to poorer countries. But India and such other developing countries cannot afford that luxury interns of environmental damage and repair.
The Naveen administration has been superbly logical and considerate to people. It has made clear that no matter what age, private vehicles particularly two-wheelers and family cars shall remain in service with extended roadworthy certificate provided the condition of a vehicles is found fit.
One must imagine a 75-year-old person leading a normal life being asked to sit at home and a 30-year-old guy with physical problems being considered to be at every ‘fun event'.
There is big reason for Odisha people to rejoice. But that does not mean the traffic rules will become lax. The authorities have made it crystal clear that except fit old vehicles remaining in service, no other traffic rules shall be modified or dropped including hefty fines for driving in drunken state, without documents of registration, insurance and driving license, speed driving and signal jumping.
Brash young guys better beware! Most of these hyper-spirited youths0 have taken own and other lives in big numbers in the past.