fog driving

visibility is severly hampers during dense fog.it is imperative that the drivers of the oncoming vehicle should be able to see you .turn on your fog lights and make yourself visible to others



without fog lights the car in front is not visible








it is very important that the driver behind should be able to see you.

the speed of vehicle should be reduced too to avoid unexpected suprises. 

rains safety

come rain and the frequency of accidents goes up. there are some precautions to take in driving this season.

1 . have a thorough check up of your vehicle.any oil spills or leakages or bad worn out tyres needs replacement before starting off.

2. keep emergency gear ready in the event of any untoward storm

3. keep a torch ready always in good working condition . you never know when it will come in use.

4. check tyre pressures and look for malfunctioning lights-indicators.

5.keep a drinking water bottle at hand always.

6. check on latest weather forecast before leaving home.stay in touch with weather forecasts for storms and heavy rains ,floods.

7check your wipers and keep changing them every year.

8 drive slowly in rain to avoid skidding.

9. turn on the head lights in rain to be visible to others .

10. keep adequate distance between the vehicle in front and yours.

blow horn!!

its written in bold letters behind trucks to blow horn. we take it literally.and keep on blowing horns incessantly.we might notice people blowing horn when they are stuck in traffic jam.still.
blowing horn is an external manifestation of internal struggle or stress the man is having.the modern lifestyle has given us sufficient stress and strain and didnot equip us with any measures to overcome them.
this blowing horns is causing lot of noise pollution apart from making traffic unbearable.this inturn causes our stress related harmones to erupt and find their manifestation in early age hypertension or diabetes ,which very common.

make yourself visible to others

we care about our headlights but never care to mend the back lights ever.they are usually worn out or not working or too dim.
most number of road accidents are due to rapid driven vehicles bumping into a stationary truck at night time or dusk.the standing truck is not noticed in darkness and the rapidly driven vehicle bumps into it.
casualty from such accidents are quite morbid or even fatal.

if the truck had put on parking lights or even put up radium strip outlining it from behind

it would be worthwhile to make yourself visible to others.

driving into a road

very often its been observed the accidents happen at the road bend. visibility is poor because of windshield and building or structure s at the bend.on coming traffic is not seen properly.
the driver has to take care while he is driving into a road ,he has to park momentarily at the junction and look well in both directions and then drive into the road if no other vehicle is seen or heard. 

are we overtaking correctly?

overtaking other vehicles is a common thing on Indian roads.most accidents occur while there is overtaking of vehicles.
there are certain norms to be followed before we overtake.

1. distance of atleast 500 meters should be clear ahead of the vehicle we are overtaking

2. on bends.the vision at the bends are hampered and we cannot see beyond a certain distance.






3. bridges and small bridges over nullah .along these bridges the overtaking is to be avoided

4. area ahead of the vehicle we are planning to overtake  must be free of congestion

5.after we have overtaken the vehicle ,we should not cut in front of the vehicle immediately as shown in oicture below. we must leave sufficient space for the vehicle to adjust its speed.







6. there are markings on the road.very rarely we know its significance. we must not cross to other side of the road if the line is solid .when one line is broken ,vehicles on this side can cross over to other side for overtaking.when the lines are solid throughout ,it is advisable to remain on your side and not cross.


7. we must wait for instructions on the road for  effective overtaking.

left is left,right is always right

in childhood we were taught a lesson on road safety. it is emphasized to keep left on roads always.

but in India there are no footpaths so the rule has to be read differently . for vehicles ,it is always keep left, whereas for pedestrian,it should be keep always right.

most of the accidents occuring on roads is hit and run by vehicles to pedestrians.usually while walking on left the walker will not be able to see the on coming traffic from behind.he will have to keep turning back to watch the on coming traffic.

if on the other hand the commuter walks on the right hand side , he can see the on coming traffic and take care for himself.

autorickshaw drivers

auto wala or auto rickshaw drivers are known for their nuisance valve more than any thing else.there are few exceptions to above rule.over all the picture about autodriver is more or less very clear across the length and breadth of this country.

i feel following are the reasons for the auto rickshaw drivers the way they are :-

1)the large chunk of auto rickshaw drivers are from lower economic strata . they feel the work they are doing is not so great.so they have a spirit of being left behind in the main stream 

2)education wise they are not educated enough to be able to understand the intricasis of driving.

3)the community lack civic sense .they are of the opinion that the commuters need to pay them enough snf to meet that goal they will steal on number of seats they fill in share auto or they steal on time by driving fast.by both methods they stand to loose on safety purpose of driving.

4)they feel that they know driving like back of their hand.they usually are forced into this profession  by hook or crook .they have managed to get the driving licence by same means .they have never been explained about the need of safety while driving. 

are we visible to others ?

these are very commonly seen i road side workers as a safety precaution.
yellow color is visible from a long distance . at night time the reflecting bands on the waist coat shine and make one visible from a distance.

maximum accidents occuring in indian road set up are of paedestrians.
a coat made of cotton clot with radium band s on it can work wonders in Indian set up.
it can be folded into a small roll when driving or walking is over.
it needs to be propagated on a massive scale. 

how safe are our roads?

safety is last on the mind of a Indian driver.we loose many a precious life every year . statistics show the figure in a small town of nagpur to be around 1300 a year. that is too much price we are paying for a measures which can be easily taken.lot of mortality is amongst the young working population.the trauma to the family is tremondous but if we take into account the national loss ,it is much more . 

the need of the time is educating the masses on highway safety.

there are books written on the subject but very few are read and implemented. might be because of the young blood which will not accept a safety protocol thinking that 'oh driving! i can do it with ease.'',you need not teach me how to drive now'',also ''am i a child to learn driving''
there are examples of whole town protesting against the use of helmet on the pretext that side vision is lost,i drive safely.
still every day we see a young blood or two dead in news paper. this does not include the innumerable casualties and morbities,which can at times be potentially maiming life or limb.