The tragic accident of a luxury bus in Maharashtra is yet another lesson for India on road safety.
The cause of the accident which occurred on the Samruddhi Expressway in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra, and the consequential inferno, which engulfed 25 of the 33 people inside the bus, are being investigated but better focus on safety norms, and a greater cultural and social mindset transformation, could have reduced the number of deaths, or perhaps ensured every life was spared.
As per reports, some of the survivors succeeded in breaking windows and jumped out to escape the raging fire, which rapidly killed the others. The charred bodies are a grim reminder how cumulatively, collectively, we, as a society, as a government, as a people, as a system, just don’t care enough, or at all, about needless and avoidable loss of life.
Ask yourself some questions. Could there not have been an alarm in the bus, which would have been triggered and was loud enough to wake everyone as soon as the accident caused a fire? Could not each of the windows have an accompanying and attached device, like a hammer, or a handle, which could have ensured everyone exited the bus?
The entire change in mindset and laws, their compliance and the additional resources needed to make each bus safer would be very insignificant but its benefits immense and long term. Why then do we look away as if 25 horrifying deaths don’t matter?
Even the heart-wrenching tales of those who survived, or even witnessed this accident, don’t tend to make a dent to our collective indifference. Why? How long could it really take if all governments — the Centre and state — decided to make sure that not a single person travelling on any bus, truck, lorry or car is ever trapped in such an accident to lose his or her life? But, no. This, too, shall be forgotten.
That is the larger, and recurring, tragedy.
