Mindless orders
It is no hidden secret that the roads in Kashmir valley are proving to be deadly as many mishaps involving bikers, vehicles (both private and public) are contributing to the increased number of deaths on the roads.
A recent mishap on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway near Galander Pampore highlighted the need for strict traffic rules and management as the CCTV footage of the incident showed how carelessly and recklessly a load carried was running along the highway and crushed two people to death.
All this is happening as the drivers of all sorts of vehicles pay little or no heed to the traffic rules and regulations. Similarly, reports about bikers getting killed in road mishaps across Kashmir valley has become a routine now. Every other day we hear about these mishaps on social media platforms and other news sources. But since the police and the administration have other more important jobs at hand, the road accidents and the subsequent fatalities go unnoticed.
However, given the rise in road mishaps involving bikers the government needs to come out with some strict and actionable plans to curtail the mishaps and deaths due to such mishaps.
Though a plan to curtail the injuries and deaths in road mishaps involving the bikers were formulated by the government last year, but the plan was not executed so effectively. The plan was announced last September to ensure the use of helmets among two wheeler users.
The move which initially kick started from Srinagar was aimed at discouraging the two wheeler drivers from avoiding the use of helmets. The district administration in Srinagar asked motorcyclists to use helmets as no fuel station would entertain any biker for providing fuel if the biker happens to be without a helmet.
An order was issued by District Development Commissioner Srinagar saying that large number of road accidents have been reported involving two wheelers in Srinagar city.
The order had warned all fuel pump stations in Srinagar to avoid non helmet users and desist from providing fuel to them at all costs. The move though a novel one was however, ignored right from the day one.
The fuel stations did not follow the rule and even today no biker is questioned by the fuel stations whenever a biker runs in to get fuel. Even the traffic cops manning the roads in Srinagar are no longer following a routine checking plan to increase the use of helmets among the bikers.
Avoiding the use of helmets is a major concern in the Jammu and Kashmir. Even various campaigns by NGO’s to address the issue also met a dead end as most of the bikers do not use helmets while driving.
The challaning and even seizing of bikes did not work as the bikers continue to avoid the use of helmets. Surprisingly, the no helmet- no fuel rule was implemented in various other areas including some other districts as well. However, the move proved a dampener as the bikers managed to get fuel at almost all fuel stations as nobody questioned them on avoiding the use of helmets.
All this points out to the act that issuing mere orders will not help but action taken on ground will secure lives.
KV Network
