Life was going great . My party was in power , I was a very active office bearer , family settled , the town respected me ( atleast that’s what I felt ) , my bank balance was extremely gratifying , nobody would dare defy my orders , overall everything was going great guns – until that fateful day when I met this Police Inspector . I spent a very short time with him , but in that little while he’s destroyed my career .
I felt a strong urge to drive my car , after having got so used to the usual convoy that always accompanies me . My eldest , maybe five around that time , made a fuss that he wanted to join too , coz ‘ we hardly ever go out without anybody else around .’ I wasn’t very happy , but reluctantly agreed . The plan was to drive on the highway , feel the thrill of sitting behind the wheel after a long gap , and get back home within an hour . Hardly about 10 minutes on the highway , we were stopped and asked to pull over by a police team . ‘ Papa why are they stopping us . They are not supposed to isnt’ it ? They just salute and let us go usually but how come they are behaving different this time ?’ He didn’t realise I was not with my convoy and the usual sirens blaring , and no one from my team was behind us as I had strictly left instructions not to be followed , coz this was ‘ My’ time .’ Oh they are just pests sonny , they’ll let us go in no time ‘
But the police ‘ check ‘ was very strange . A junior officer , a constable , asked if I could drop off an Inspector in the nearby police station , about half an hour away . No ID check , no documents check , and worse he didn’t even recognize me or ask me who I was . I grudgingly agreed . The inspector came . ‘ Hi Sir , Can I sit in the front please . I don’t like sitting at the back ‘ One look at sonny’s face and I knew his only break with his dad was about to be spoilt . ‘ No I’m sorry , either you sit at the back or I’m driving without you ‘, I firmly answered . ‘ Oh that’s fine , I can understand the little one wants to be with you ‘ Little did I realise that the next 30 mins would eventually wreak havoc .
He was a new inspector posted here , in this part of the district . He had no clue about who his chauffeur was . Wanting to irritate him , ‘ Do you always hitch a ride like this , stopping cars randomly on the highway ? ‘ ‘ Oh no, not usually . I have been given an official car , but my driver lost his brother unexpectedly this morning , and I have never driven a four-wheeler . I only have a licence for a two-wheeler ‘ ‘ So you could have driven your bike to work ? ‘ ‘ Ahh , I never do that . My bike is like a relic in the house . I hardly ever use it ‘ What a weird fellow I thought . Sonny couldn’t stop himself ‘ But uncle , why don’t you ride it ?’
‘ Hmm , you are too young son . But daddy will understand . Over the past three years as a Police Inspector , I sign almost 8-10 accident victims’ files daily , each and everyday . But now , the last 3 months or so , I sign on the death certificates for atleast 3 people each day on this dual carriageway . And in almost 9 out of 10 such cases , the offending agent is a two-wheeler on the road .’ Just then , two-men on a Bajaj Pulsar , wearing no helmets and not even an inch of any protective gear , dangerously overtook us , forcing me to just go off the road . ‘ And sir , this is exactly what I was saying . Two-wheelers are deadly . When I ride a two-wheeler , I always think I can squeeze out just ahead of the vehicle right in front , not realizing that it’s difficult to beat a car , and more importantly not realizing that I could overtake later after a few seconds , once the other vehicle in the opposite direction has gone past . Add alcohol to that , and the effect is deadly . We Indians have no sense of ‘driving safe .’ Everyone is in a hurry ,always. I wish I could somehow ban both these not only in this town , but the state and all over India too. ‘
Hey ban two-wheelers ? And alcohol ? But wont that affect the state’s revenues significantly I angrily asked . ‘ It surely will sir , no doubt. But isn’t it the state’s responsibility to take care of its citizens ? If everyone used their common sense on the road , or if rules for traffic violations are strictly enforced like in developed countries , then maybe there’s no need to think of such drastic measures. But common sense , as they say , is not so common and enforcing rules – that’s a distant dream in India. Every Tom Dick and Harry says he is related to a big man , sometimes my own colleagues are harassed if they try to enforce fines , so to me realistically the only solution is banning them. And I sincerely hope atleast one leader , one sensitive statesman from somewhere , is upto the task and takes a bold stand. ‘ As I dropped him off at the police station , he added ‘ .. and today the reason you gave me a ride is also a two-wheeler. My driver’s brother was pushed off the road by a speeding two-wheeler overtaking a truck in the opposite direction , he lost control , fell into a pit and died on the way to the hospital ‘ I wish sonny hadn’t heard all these gory details . I wish I never stopped to pick up this man on the road . But as we got back home ‘ Dad , you think you could do that ?’ Do what son ? ‘ … become a statesman the policeman was talking about.’ I just laughed aloud . I was not a fool to give up my power and position that took years to build , by suggesting such ‘draconian’ laws.
Hospital reminded me of my brother , and I called and had a detailed chat with him later that evening. He works in a large tertiary care centre in South India , and he actively deals with accident victims. So tell me , are two-wheelers and alcohol a real problem at your work . ‘ Oh yes , almost all the time . I go to see patients in the Emergency department with broken bones , and almost 80 % of them involve a motor bike. Some of them are so drunk , they are not even in a position to sign consent for an emergency life-saving surgery or amputation. I know there are papers in the medical literature which have said that alcohol does not cause a ‘ statistically significant ‘ rise in the number of road traffic accidents , but I don’t care about those because I’m more concerned about families , not statistics , families that are destroyed mentally , psychologically and financially within minutes ,literally , all because of improperly driven vehicles . Majority of the population does not have medical insurance , and the very few who have will not be able to claim if it happened under the influence of alcohol . All savings gone , overnight , for the medical bills and treatment costs. Our people don’t use their brains , and common sense as they say is not at all common. So the only option I could think of is to ban these !! But which statesman would be willing to come up with such a drastic proposal ? “
I had to do something , I’ve been given the same challenge twice by two different professionals, within the same day , and I didn’t want Sonny to feel ‘ Dad is doing nothing about accidents ‘ I , reluctantly , went to the head office , and proposed this. I was laughed at , humiliated. People called me names . Asked me if I was sloshed. Not just colleagues , even my own friends scoffed at me. All my colleagues had their own cars and convoys , so largely they were ok with banning two-wheelers ( some even said add three-wheeler autorickshaws to the list ) but when it came to alcohol , I was all by myself. But I kept bringing it up again and again . I ran a lot of campaigns with a handful of supporters. I tried to make people understand that unlike in developed countries we in India do not fear or respect laws , so it’s very difficult to enforce them. Getting away after an offence , even if a serious one at that , is not very difficult , provided you have the right connections . The more money you have , the more well-connected you are , the easier it is to escape the law. And we have two-wheelers, three-wheelers and alcohol destroying lives , wrecking families overnight. Not long after , as expected , I was given marching orders. I went with a heavy heart , knowing fully well that I had tried my best to become that one lawmaker Sonny wanted me to become. This had been covered extensively in the press , and the whole town especially women were rallying behind me. A large contingent met outside my office and this time , I realized the people in the town actually gave me a lot of respect. I lost my power , position and authority , but I got back home with my head held high. And that’s how that 30 mins with an Inspector in my car brought me to an abrupt halt. Actually not me , just my career .
Except for the statesman’s details , everything else is true. I’m an Orthopaedic surgeon dealing with broken hands and legs on a daily basis , the brother of the ‘statesman’ working in a tertiary care referral hospital. What you’ve read so far is based on the conversation I had with that inspector as I dropped him off at his police station, enroute home in Tamilnadu . I know an elderly lady whose son has a major alcohol problem , and though he’s almost a decade younger to me , requires frequent trips to the hospital for his irreversible Cirrhosis. In her own words , he’s living on borrowed time. His daughters have had to change schools as he wasn’t able to pay their school fee . Alcohol causes about 13 road traffic deaths everyday in India , and enforcement of drunk-driving laws is in India is worse than other BRICS nations including Afghanistan and Pakistan . https://scroll.in/article/908022/more-than-2000-people-were-booked-for-drink-driving-in-indias-big-cities-on-new-years-eve#:~:text=In%202017%2C%20the%20latest%20year,in%20such%20accidents%20in%202016. Almost 17 people die every hour in India , two wheelers had the most involvement in RTA’s , 1 out of 4 traffic related deaths directly involves a two-wheeler compounded by overspeeding , risky manoeuvres etc https://www.statista.com/statistics/746887/india-number-of-fatalities-in-road-accidents/ . Bikes are dangerous by themselves , and add booze to the mix you have an even deadlier combo . https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/alcohol-kills-2-6l-indians-every-year-who-report/articleshow/65917785.cms As of now , two-wheelers account for about 1.5 lakh accidents ( 0.15 million ) annually in India . I deal with accident victims all the time at the hospital , and it really hurts to see families , and possibly generations , affected by one single incident involving two-wheelers and booze. I know many of my orthopaedic and other colleagues in the hospital would probably have lesser work if these were banned , but hey isn’t it more important to make sure families are not wrecked overnight.
Such ‘imaginary’ lawmakers as in the illustration above may not exist , and it’s no exaggeration to say it would be impossible to find one . Law-enforcing agencies have their hands full , and many a time someone with ‘connections’ would easily get away even if he were at fault . Much easier than making new rules, and so much more economical than increasing the workforce is to train our brains to use our God-given common sense and drive safe on our roads . But since that is difficult too and till the time that we in India as a nation actually manage to collectively find it , I don’t feel guilty in suggesting that we ban booze and bikes , and also launch a nation-wide search for a sensitive statesman , someone who is up to this difficult task .
