Another road accident

Eight members of two families including five children were killed in a road accident at Daksum area in Anantnag district just days before. The mishap occured when a car, they were travelling in, skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge. All of them died on the spot. The deaths were widely mourned. Some major road accidents have been occuring in Kashmir and Jammu regions in which large number of persons die. The increasing mishaps and subsequent loss of lives is a cause of concern. There is a strong demand by the people to take strong measures to put an end to the tragic mishaps. But the accidents keep on occuring. Both, the concerned authorities and those driving the vehicles, have a responsibility in this regard. The accidents occur mainly due to violation of traffic rules including over-speeding, wrong overtaking, driving on the wrong side and driving by a person not fully trained, in many cases not holding a driving licence. Sometimes, the bad condition of roads also cause mishaps. It is the duty and responsibility of a driver to strictly adhere to road safety or traffic rules and not to violate those. Any violation can lead to deaths and injuries. Traffic police officials cannot be on every spot and every road to check the violation of the rules. So a person driving a vehicle has to drive safely so that his own life as also the lives of others are not endangered. Following the rules can atleast minimise these accidents to a greater extent. Traffic police officials wherever deployed too have to strictly ensure adherence of rules by the drivers. If they act strictly, those driving will also have some kind of accountability. Otherwise, the scenario can worsen on roads and more mishaps and more deaths will occur. The activities of officials must not remain confined to action against wrong parking of vehicles and consequent imposition of fines. That is also important but other violations too have to be strictly dealt with. A number of youngsters do not have driving licence and are not fully trained. But they still drive. Some drivers resort to over-speeding and driving on wrong side and overtaking other vehicles wrongly. This too has to be checked and stopped. Road accidents can be prevented if rules are followed properly and implementation of rules ensured. Necessary repairs must be immediately done on the dilapidated roads, particularly accident prone stretches. All these measures can lead to safe travel on roads.