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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Safe Journey

Editorial:-
News of accidents are getting too frequent and no one seems inclined to really address the issue. The traffic police is occupied almost full-time with patrolling the streets of the capital or spying for vehicles parked in no parking zones even as public carriers, private vehicles and passenger jeeps speed all along the state and national highway putting tourists, locals and even pedestrians at risk. Given the recklessness that empty roads excite in most drivers nowadays, the traffic jams are welcome speedbreakers around Gangtok. For those who still scoff at the need to invest more time and thought on making the roads safer, a drive anywhere beyond the traffic induced safe speed zones of the capital is recommended. Watching a mainline jeep power full pedal around a turn on the highway will quicky bring home the level of risk on the roads. A recent pile-up reported at night near Tadong where a Utility vehicle plied into three parked vehicles and totaled almost all of them, the mangled vehicles standing as frightening reminders of worse scenarios which could have unfolded had the mishap occurred any other time but the desolate midnight hour. If such dangerously high speeds are achieved so close to town, then one can only imagine what the speedometer clocks beyond Ranipool. It clichéd to even point out here that speeding on hill roads is dangerous. That goes without saying, but what is actually being done to prevent it? Precious little. While just about every driver gets pulled up for a surprise check of his vehicle documents in the vicinity of the capital [the pre-Dasain days being special busy with checking], the highways rarely see a surprise check except during festivals when checking beyond Rangpo becomes especially strict. It is time that someone started setting and enforcing speed limits along the highway. There is no doubt that most accidents which have taken lives in Sikkim have been caused due to over-speeding. It must take a lot of momentum for a vehicle to crash through the culverts and fly off the road as was seen in a recent accident on NH 31A. What the enforcers of traffic rules could also look into is the health of vehicles which ferry passengers. A person who pays for the ride deserves to be travelling in a road-worthy vehicle. While no one minds the odd puncture along the highway, a brake-fail or ‘steering lock’ are dangers that they can easily be preempted with some vigilant policing.

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