On The Road to Road Safety

For every one who is on the road safety should be a prime concern. Safety of self as well as others should be of equal importance for every driver and commuter on the roads. There are two types of people in this world who follow traffic rules because they believe in them. They know that they are made to keep everyone on the road safe. For the other category they follow rules only under the influence of the Danda or the rod . What I mean is that the second category will stop at the red light or follow the rules only when they see a cop standing otherwise they wild flout every rule in the book from jumping red lights to talking on the phone.Whatever their type I feel their life is important and I have a few things to tell my fellow commuters.
 I find that people on the roads can be classified as the the following types

1) Always talking on the phone types as they drive

My message to them is : Talking on the phone is one of the worst distractions . It can be fatal for you and others on the road.

2) Never wear seat Belt types:My message to them is that sear belts are  there to help your body & soul stay’s together .They protect you from jerks and physical damage during accidents

3) Never wear helmets type: If you have anything up there protect it with a helmet.If not then wear a helmet to protect yourself for those who love you. This is my message to all those not wearing helmets.

4)The Red Light Jumpers: If red makes your blood boil and turns you into a bull ready to charge then look away,relax take a deep breath and go green.  Its good for you.

6) Full beam light users who never use low beam at night. Others on the roads are no

The message I want to give is 

Your Car lights are to show the path on the road and not to turn other commuters blind as bats. As a high beam falls on our eyes it makes seeing the road extremely difficult for the driver facing the high beam from your car.

We should use high beam only on dark stretches of roads and  turn it to low beam when we see a another vehicle coming in our direction.

7) The speed Devils: my message to those who over speed and indulge in zigzag driving:

Life is not a race . By over speeding you are only leaving your life behind

8) The drink and drive types: Dear friends please don’t drink and drive . If  you believe in one for the road then let it be Tea,Coffee ,Water or Juice

Social media could be used to propagate road safety , Pictures of traffic rule offenders should be displayed on Facebook and hoardings. It is a good way to use social pressure to cause  the repeat offenders to fall in line

Engaging people through social media and creating a dialog would be a wonderful way of making more people aware about their role and social obligations on the road.

One of the best things that we can do to improve the road sense amongst the people is to hold awareness drives and workshops. One good way would be to catch them young. School children are receptive and eager to learn. Workshops to educate them about road safety,road signs and how to read and interpret can be a good sign. Car racing games can be designed where a player is rewarded for following the rules.

NSDF or the Nissan Safety Driving forum is a forum that promotes road safety. It is actively involved in promoting caution and safety while on the road. It is involved in bringing in a change in the mindset of the masses.

The forum is conducted by the Nissan Co. Limited and promotes safety driving activities across a number of cities. It was started in 2012 and intends to spreads awareness about road safety acoross the country. Uptil now it has covered cities like New Delhi,Mumbai and Chennai. This year it would cover 8 new cities i.e Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Vadodara, Nagpur, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi
More information about NSDF and its activities can be found here The Nissan Safety Driving Forum