There’s no easy solution to the rise in road accidents. In the long run, families and community must act. In the short run, exemplary punishment serves the purpose
The National Capital Region has recently witnessed two cases in which people, driving powerful, high-end cars rashly, have snuffed out two young human lives. Two basic questions emerge from the many that have been debated in this context. What explains the seemingly sudden eruption of such driving, particularly, as in one of the two cases mentioned, by minors without licences at the wheelIJ And, of course, what is to be doneIJ
First, one has to see the increase as a part of the general rise in the number of road accidents as a result of the massive increase in the number of vehicular traffic on the streets. The total number of road accidents in India rose from 430,600 in 2010 to 450,898 in 2014. Sixteen Indians died in road accidents every hour in latter year, a majority of them as a result of over-speeding and careless driving, according to the latest data by National Crime Records Bureau. The total number of deaths from road accidents rose from over 137,000 people in 2013 to over 141,000 in 2014. Sixteen children die on Indian roads daily.
This steep increase, in turn, reflects a sharp leap in vehicle ownership and use. According to a recent estimate, the number of vehicles, around 60 million to 70 million now, will rise to 400 million to 450 million in the next 20 years or so. The rise has been — and will be — a result of economic growth and rising — in some cases skyrocketing — incomes. Salaries have gone up significantly across the board stretching from Government servants, to academics and private sector employees. The spread of manufacturing and ancillary industries has generated both profits and employment. Urbanisation has led to large-scale land acquisition, sometimes at astronomical prices. A large section of farmers has overnight become very rich, as have entrepreneurs who have struck bright ideas.
Of course, enormous disparities remain and many remain below the poverty line. But a significant section now has substantial disposable incomes, and the growing upper middle classes, 300 million to 400 million in strength, are larger than the populations several medium-sized countries. Their demands have fueled the growth of a huge distribution system comprising marketing, advertising, wholesale and retail sales sections. This, in turn, has further expanded profit and employment generation and an increase in the number of those with money to spare.
The vast majority of those who have come to wealth recently remain decent, law-abiding citizens. Money has gone into the heads of a none-too-negligible section and brought in its wake a feeling or power laced with arrogance. This, in turn, has to be seen in the context of traditional feudal behaviour at all levels, with its emphasis on conspicuous defiance of the law and its representatives on the ground as a manifestation of their power. The zaminder was the king whose word was law.
This pattern of behaviour was shared by others with wealth who made local Government minions compliant with money and hospitality and, in many cases, joined the ranks of zaminders by buying up land. One consequence of all this was that disregard for the law and those entrusted with enforcing it, came to be regarded by many as an accepted accompaniment of wealth and power. This and the overall decline in values and the moral tenor of family life, leading to declining influence of parents, have led to a situation where a large number of youngsters in the difficult period of adolescence, doing what they please without any thought to possible consequences. Whether rape and molestation of women or killing through rash and negligent driving while still a minor, the basic, broad root is common.
There no easy solution. In the long run the families, educational institutions and the community must act. In the short run, exemplary punishment in those cases or rash and negligent driving, will send a salutary message. The result will not be evident overnight. Over a period, however, it will.