Mangalore: City Plagued by Lack of Traffic Sense, Concern for Others?
Brijesh Garodi
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Jul 4: I was on my way to Ladyhill from Lalbagh, on Tuesday July 3 at around 10.30 am. Just as I reached the road divider exactly opposite to the Mangala Stadium gate, a lady driving a Ritz in the middle of the road suddenly took a right turn, without noticing a bike on her right.
She hit the bike, damaging it badly and injuring the rider, a man. Seeing him fallen on the road, I stopped my vehicle and rushed to his help, and so did many auto drivers who were around. We helped him to his feet, and checked to see if he was alright, as the only visible wounds on him were on his toes and the knee which was bleeding. Luckily, he did not suffer any major injury.
But the accident itself is not the point of this narration. What shocked and surprised us was the devil-may-care attitude of the lady driver who was the cause for it all. She sat inside the car looking at the drama outside, seemingly unaffected by the whole scene. When she realized her car was also damaged, she got down to inspect the dent, still not bothered about the man she had injured.
When confronted, she argued that it was not her fault as her right indicators were on. However, two things are to be noted here - she switched on the indicator at the last moment giving no time for the rider behind her to slow down, and that the brake lights, indicators and reverse lights of her car were all covered with dark mesh-like films, hindering the visibility of the lights. In daylight, it becomes even more difficult to notice the lights because of such 'fashionable' decorations.
She then came towards the injured man, took his phone number and walked off from the scene, without even asking his condition, let alone apologizing. The man went after her asking for help, but she just chose to ignore him completely.
She drove off in her car, escaping from all and sundry. However, the traffic police who had arrived by then chased her down and managed to bring her back to the accident spot. Her car was seized and taken to police station, and later released when her husband appeared on her behalf. It is said that the two parties later compromised.
The object of the narration is not to malign the lady, but to highlight the deteriorating traffic sense and perhaps sense of humanity too in general. If educated people act this way, then what culture and what modernity can we boast of? Road is a public property and every individual as well as traffic rule needs to be respected. No matter to which rung of the social heirarchy one may belong, no matter the size of the vehicle one may possess, one cannot disregard the law and treat others as lesser beings.
In this particular incident, the people to be really appreciated are the auto drivers who came to the help of the injured man. They arranged for first aid and helped the police to catch the lady by giving them exact information about her and her car. The least she could have done was to apologize for causing harm, irrespective of whose fault it was, but alas, even that was not to be.
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