(Motorcyclists dicing with death? Picture taken by my sister when she first visited India in 2005)
No offence intended but don’t you guys ever thought of wearing a safety helmet when you are riding a bike?
I was watching the news over Astro couple days ago when the issue of fatality involving motorcyclist in India was raised. A short take of the traffic on Indian roads was also shown and I could not help noticing that most are not wearing any safety helmet. One or two was wearing but their pillion riders were wearing none. Given the bad condition of Indian roads (as mentioned by my sister) and the almost lawless style of driving, it is little wonder why fatality is almost certain for a motorcyclist who been knocked down in an accident. This fact is nothing new and has been raised before – read here.
So, feeling little bit disbelief, I thought why people in India on the first place ever bothered to report on the issue. For start, wearing helmet is almost none existance. There is no law on the matter. The road condition is as bad as it can get (which is why Indian made cars are tough built) . And traffic rules it seems are meant to be broken (it seems so in every country).
Riding a bike without a helmet seems to be a norm in many countries. Sometimes in such countries, one can ride a motorcycle without a safety helmet because there is no law requiring a helmet to be worn when riding a bike. In Malaysia however, there is a strict law requiring motorcyclist to wear a helmet when on the road but all one needs to do is to go to residential areas and find young and old riding a bike without any helmet and riding with total disregards to the law.
How much a safety helmet cost in India? Even though there is no law compelling the use of safety helmet when one is on the road, it should not stop one from wearing it when riding a bike. Life is not that cheap to be wasted.
We have a share of idiots, right here in Malaysia who despite knowing that it is against the law to be not wearing a helmet when on the road, continue to ride one without a helmet. They are putting themselves and their pillion rider in danger. Given the fact that some even ride the bike in dangerous ways, it just amplifies the risk.
Sometimes the issue is not whether there is a law exist on the issue or whether there is any enforcement of such law but rather the issue is whether there is an attitude problem when it comes to road safety.
Read also:-
I almost murdered someone last Sunday night
Motorcyclist killed after ramming bus
Del.icio.us Tag: Attitude
Heh..heh…hehh…In most parts of India, you would look pretty odd riding a motorbike wearing a helmet, positively weird if you wear a full-faced one.
im scared of bikes. ever since the bike dad n i were riding met with an accident 23 years ago! and i dont wnt to have anything to do with it. though i long to see whose the culprit who invented the bikes in the first place! 😉
=ammu=
“culprit who invented the bikes in the first place”..hehe
Almost 10% of the global road traffic accidents occur in India. Much of the world wide web is full of sarcasm & mocking of the indisciplined driving on Indian roads. Unfortunately in since 60 years since independence the authorities have failed to publish a National Highway code. Licences are given to anyone who can demonstrate an ability to use the clutch-accelerator, consequently the motoer driving schools teach just that and no more. Concepts such as – blindspots, principle of MSM, the tyre & tarmac rule, 2 second gap and most improtantly giving way are not known to the average Indian driver.
This site http://driving-india.blogspot.com/ has been created with the purpose of providing driver education and training to all Indian road users. It is by far the most comprehensive website providing training in defensive driving. Learning simple road habits can make our roads safe and also free up congestion caused by traffic chaos.
At present 17 driver education videos aimed at changing the driving culture on Indian roads are available. The video are unique in that the footage is real life action from streets of London. We have copied the Western habits: Replaced the dhoti with denim, high rise buildings for Indian cottages, burgers and coke instead of Indian breads and perhaps sugarcane juice. Surely we can copy the Western ways of travelling too.
To watch the videos, interested readers may visit: http://driving-india.blogspot.com/
The videos cover the following topics:
Video 1: Covers the concept of Blind spots
Video 2: Introduces the principle of Mirrors, Signal and Manoeuvre
Video 3: At red lights, stop behind the stop line
Video 4: At red lights there are no free left turns
Video 5: The Zebra belongs to pedestrians
Video 6: Tyres and Tarmac (rather than bumper to bumper)
Video 7: Merging with the Main road
Video 8: Leaving The Main Road
Video 9: Never Cut Corners
Video 10: Show Courtesy on roads
Video 11: 5 Rules that help deal with Roundabouts
Video 12: Speed limits, stopping distances, tailgating & 2 seconds rule
Video 13: Lane discipline and overtaking
Video 14: Low beam or high beam?
Video 15: Parallel (reverse parking) made easy
Video 16: Give the cyclist the respect of a car
Video 17: Dealing with in-car condensation
Many thanks