Data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in early 2000’s only 5-7% of Indian households owned cars. And the recent data says that whooping 30-35% or possibly higher percentage of Indian households own a car. Rapid economic growth and urbanization has led almost every family in India own at least one car. With more and more people getting their hands on the wheels, there is an increasing proportion of people that have little or no sense of road safety norms.
Especially talking about youngsters, every person wants to have the best and latest cars. Many times, youngsters learn to drive cars even before their legal age. This increasing demand is mainly due to exposure to media and peer pressure. In contemporary world, many people are intentionally or unintentionally driving rashly. World Health Organization (WHO) released statistics where it was stated that the most number of deaths in India are due to road accidents. Traffic accidents claimed around 3500 lives in 2015. Reckless driving, over speeding, drinking and driving, not following road safety rules are some of the main causes of traffic accidents.
As per NCRB data, in 2016 more than 90% of road death were due to rash driving. Most of the accused either did not have license or were underaged. Another reason of rash driving is influence of drugs and alcohol. Intoxicated young blood when gets their hands on the wheel it leads to reckless driving and over-speeding. Stricter laws for driving while intoxicated need to be introduced. The utmost shocking part of this issue is that there is an increasing number of minors driving the bikes and cars also, there are many reasons contributing to this but the most significant one is the negligence of parents, stricter measures need to be taken against such parents.
On the government’s part there is lack of awareness about road safety. Youngsters are barely even aware about the road safety rules. Speed limits are not followed anywhere on the roads. Traffic police despite all the measures taken by them are unable to tackle much of the road safety violations. Students of high school and undergraduate degrees should be educated about road safety in an ensured manner.
Social media culture has also glorified performing stunts on the road without even considering the risk it possess to public. Increasing number of videos and reels surface online where youngsters can be seen performing students on the road recording videos and uploading them online. Government has been trying to take strict action against such notorious elements but this issue stays largely unresolved. Data from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) states that in 2019 alone approximately 1,51,000 people lost their lives while this number was as low as 80,000 in 2000’s. The increase rate is alarming and solid measures to tackle the recklessness on the road are need of the hour. Youngsters need to understand the dangers of rash driving and act civilly on and off the road.