AA Edit | Pant mishap: Focus on roads, users

The talented young cricketer Rishabh Pant has had a miraculous new lease of life after being the lone person involved in a horrific crash in which his imported car crashed into the median on a highway. He is a precious talent who has helped sustain the new dynamic of attractive Test match cricket in a changing environment.

The celebrity that he is, a phalanx of doctors will be attending to him, and he should be back in action soon. But what his mishap does is to put the focus on Indian roads. If indeed a pothole had brought about this accident on a national highway, imagine the plight then of drivers and all other road users in a country that is speedily building superhighways connecting major cities but is unable to guarantee smooth roads.

The general rule for all drivers in India, who tend to drive at 60 confrontations per minute rather than 60 kmph on roads of mixed use — from jaywalkers to cattle and camels, and herds of wild jumbos too, besides a variety of two-wheelers, three-wheelers, motorised carts, cars and SUVs, heavy vehicles share the carriageway — is to be far more aware of the hazardous nature of our roads. The roads even in metros, for instance Bangalore, are filled with potholes, which can be conduits of death and destruction.

The statistics of road accidents of 2021 offer good reasons why driving standards have to be far higher in India. That year, as many as 1.59 lakh people lost their lives and 3.84 lakh people were injured in 4.12 road mishaps. Many of those mishaps were also caused by the modern hazard of the use of mobile phones while driving, besides head-on collisions and vehicles running into each other.

The lives of people, especially youngsters who tend to be more adventurous while driving, can change in a trice due to a mishap, be it their fault or that of others. The Indian environment is such that no vehicle gets on to a road without godly images and symbols in them. How much ever we progress, too many Indians will continue to get hurt in mishaps on the roads. To be alert and cautious in that unpredictable environment would be the wisest thing when driving.