Ethics on the road
Every now and then we hear of people discussing on the traffic rules and the right of way. This will be an ongoing discussion throughout no matter how much the RSTA and the traffic police come up with many rules and regulations. It is an issue that will have no answer if our very people who use the road do not heed to traffic rules. Just recently I saw a Tucson run over and throw off a little boy just as the car was nearing the zebra crossing. It is one single incident that I noticed with my naked eyes. There are many hit and run cases we hear on a daily basis both reported and un-reported ones. Speeding cars never seem to take heed of the zebra crossing and at the same time there are also people who think zebra crossing is their right so they take their own sweet time to cross the road. In one incident I saw a car speeding off on fire. This not only poses a risk to the ones in the car it also poses serious threat to the pedestrians. Then there are cars that splash off water to the pedestrians especially on the rainy days. The victims are mostly school going children. Imagine having to stay in the class for a day soaked in rain water. The speeding cars never take note of the puddles on the road and worst still not being able to empathize with the students. Honking persistently by the cars behind you especially when you are in the convoy is nerve wrecking. Honking in a residential area is prohibited by law but imagine when somebody can go to the extent of honking early in the morning just in your parking lot. Round about is a huge confusion. Everyone thinks everyone has the right of way. It’s a matter of who will get into the roundabout first and so everyone tries to do that. it’s like Russel Peter saying, “somebody is going to get real hurt tonight.” But no one knows who is going to get hurt. So is the case while in the round about. The ego of the person behind the wheel plays a huge role here. In short many people behind the wheels do not practice any driving ethics. Just knowing how to steer the steering wheel and driving on is not adequate enough to be on the road. One should be equally oriented on the rules and regulations and most importantly just follow some civic sense of driving. If only all of us could practice some simple rule of the thumb of driving, I am sure we can prevent lots of mishaps that are currently taking place in our capital city and elsewhere in the country. We see a lot of fancy graffiti articulately placed on legible sign boards that send out so many messages home. In one of them I saw a graffiti that read, “If you marry speed you will divorce your family”. Another catchy one says, “Speed is like a knife that cuts your life.” Very true but nobody take heeds of these fancy one-liners.
Note: I wrote this in the opinion column of Business Bhutan on 17th September 2011.
karmachoden 