Motor vehicles in India today, have pleasantly surprised many of us who grew up in an era dominated by acute shortages of quality vehicles, an under developed industry,inability of most to pay for a new car and severe restrictions imposed by Governments on scarce foreign currency for transfer of technology. The good old Ambassador of Hindustan motors, Fiat,standard Herald were common sight on the sparsely crowded roads of our country. The changes after liberalization however, saw quantum jump in design, quality and safety standards of cars that continue to flood our market. From the days when a direction- indicator was a rarity,we now match the latest trends in technology and software driven applications in all our automobile products.
This is the backdrop against which I am recounting the details of a car crash which my wife and I survived recently. Given that advent of modern cars coincided with attempts to upgrade the quality of National highways and Express ways, the opportunity to exceed an average speed of 80 Kms on these newly built surfaces became a reality. While the ability to traverse distances in comparatively shorter duration became a reality, a whole host of attendant facilities coupled with the need to educate the semi literate user on the repercussions of high speed traffic,were perhaps not pursued with equal vigour. . Safety features in all walks of life in India, be it,construction,transportation and industry, are far from meeting well documented and mandatory features enforced by advanced countries of the West. It is thus not unusual to see inadequate sign boards/ warning signals/signs, incomplete safety barriers to prevent human and animal encroachment on high speed corridors, unauthorized traffic of two wheeler ,four wheelers and tractors in the wrong lane( often heading the wrong way) and inability to hold highway authorities accountable for dangerous diversions and unlit stretches of potentially high risk accident prone zones. Viewed from the ever increasing density of population bordering on intercity motorways and unregulated settlement of colonies, we are poised on the threshold of serious conflict of interest posed by human/animal and environmental issues.
For a country which has witnessed unprecedented growth of motor vehicles but not enough infrastructure development,strict adherence to rules of the road and close monitoring to check indiscipline, should be a very high priority activity. That it is not so, is known to all.The chances of encountering an unlicensed driver at the wheels of a truck or load carrier and vehicles with poor material state are very high ,if not real.
With all the knowledge at my disposal, I managed to collide with a milk truck on the National Highway near Kolhapur in Maharashtra.Entirely my fault. The rather well made SUV took the brunt of the collision and voila, the air bags deployed as designed. I was in for a further surprise apart from the safety features of my SUV. The emergency road side assistance provided a flat bed and a taxi in a reasonably short span of time.Such facilities were unthinkable a few years ago. Well done Mahindra.
The sense of relief and gratitude for our very miraculous escape was marred soon thereafter, by the procedures adopted by the Cops who arrived on the scene. That is another story which needs to be analysed in the context of services provided for the common man in India.
So we thank the Almighty for sparing us rather lightly. But air bags, seat belts and a well designed firewall perhaps contributed in no small measure to our survival.
Do spend a few moments on the safety features of your new car before you select one. A cashless policy with zero depreciation is well worth the investment for those of you who intend to frequent our Highways.
This is the backdrop against which I am recounting the details of a car crash which my wife and I survived recently. Given that advent of modern cars coincided with attempts to upgrade the quality of National highways and Express ways, the opportunity to exceed an average speed of 80 Kms on these newly built surfaces became a reality. While the ability to traverse distances in comparatively shorter duration became a reality, a whole host of attendant facilities coupled with the need to educate the semi literate user on the repercussions of high speed traffic,were perhaps not pursued with equal vigour. . Safety features in all walks of life in India, be it,construction,transportation and industry, are far from meeting well documented and mandatory features enforced by advanced countries of the West. It is thus not unusual to see inadequate sign boards/ warning signals/signs, incomplete safety barriers to prevent human and animal encroachment on high speed corridors, unauthorized traffic of two wheeler ,four wheelers and tractors in the wrong lane( often heading the wrong way) and inability to hold highway authorities accountable for dangerous diversions and unlit stretches of potentially high risk accident prone zones. Viewed from the ever increasing density of population bordering on intercity motorways and unregulated settlement of colonies, we are poised on the threshold of serious conflict of interest posed by human/animal and environmental issues.
For a country which has witnessed unprecedented growth of motor vehicles but not enough infrastructure development,strict adherence to rules of the road and close monitoring to check indiscipline, should be a very high priority activity. That it is not so, is known to all.The chances of encountering an unlicensed driver at the wheels of a truck or load carrier and vehicles with poor material state are very high ,if not real.
With all the knowledge at my disposal, I managed to collide with a milk truck on the National Highway near Kolhapur in Maharashtra.Entirely my fault. The rather well made SUV took the brunt of the collision and voila, the air bags deployed as designed. I was in for a further surprise apart from the safety features of my SUV. The emergency road side assistance provided a flat bed and a taxi in a reasonably short span of time.Such facilities were unthinkable a few years ago. Well done Mahindra.
The sense of relief and gratitude for our very miraculous escape was marred soon thereafter, by the procedures adopted by the Cops who arrived on the scene. That is another story which needs to be analysed in the context of services provided for the common man in India.
So we thank the Almighty for sparing us rather lightly. But air bags, seat belts and a well designed firewall perhaps contributed in no small measure to our survival.
Do spend a few moments on the safety features of your new car before you select one. A cashless policy with zero depreciation is well worth the investment for those of you who intend to frequent our Highways.
