Although at IndianWeb2 we talk about technology & web but after reading an alarming article on NYTimes I couldn't stop myself from writing about an issue than need attention than anything else that kills and took lives of people of our very own nation - India.Apart from being one of the fastest emerging economy and IT manpower, emerging outsourcing destination and blah blah blah ...India is also emerging in one more area as 'Capital of World Road Death', every day 320 people are killed in traffic accidents in India i.e. 1,16,800 people die in a year because of road accidents the highest rate in the world and more than anything, infact more than- terrorism, underworld, riots, naxalism altogether.
On road accidents in India NYTimes stated -
A lethal brew of poor road planning, inadequate law enforcement, a surge in trucks and cars, and a flood of untrained drivers have made India the world’s road death capital. As the country’s fast-growing economy and huge population raise its importance on the world stage, the rising toll is a reminder that the government still struggles to keep its more than a billion people safe.
See the video report by NYTimes.com and below too;
India has already already superseded China in death tolls on road, fact that China has undergone auto boom on its own it had 73,500 fatalities on road in 2008 comparing to India's 118,000 fatalities in 2008 (a 40% rise in 5 years).
We have ambitious young generation in India working in MNC's where CEOs talk about 'employees philosophy' and plenty of VP's, CTO's, Head's of big branded companies getting plenty of bucks to get themselves Japanese car , in offices talking about future strategies and how to keep it cool in corporate culture. However, when on road all of sudden a monster make an entry into so called 'philosophers' and road rules,etiquette, safety measure are just not their cup of tea because its the corporate rules whom they care about, taking live on road is an inspiration they get from their favorite bollywood heroes.
In NCR - National Capital Region, India comprising cities - Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Gazhiabad we have malls, marts, multiplexes and young generation is willing to spend their hard earned money into it, on the contrary to this and at the same time there are young ones who are unfortunately do not earn as much as their MNC counterparts reason being lack of education and these are the same unskilled drivers who drives cabs of renowned call centers, BPOs or the work as drivers for busy top management heads of companies mushrooming in these areas.
What lacks even in an well educated population of India is that - Safety needs to be an important part of the driving culture, and that is still lacking among most of the people of India.
As per NYTimes - Dr. Etienne Krug, director of the department of violence and injury prevention at the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Indian government has been slow to act. Bringing down road deaths "requires political commitment at the highest level,". India’s government is just waking up to the issue.
Photo Credits - Flickr's Weyerdk account