FAST AND FURIOUS COFFINS!!!!

Hello everyone! Its been a long time since I have written a blog post (5 years!!!... wow!!!). A lot of things have happened since then. Lots of experiences, pleasant and unpleasant have made and shaped our lives to sculpt us into who we are today!! 

For me, I have had luck on my side to travel and see different cultures, habitats and of course food, to open new avenues in my thought process in ways that I had no access to earlier. So, what made me get back to writing. Well, I suppose, it is the only way to connect to people (apart from music), to get my thoughts out, for everyone to appreciate (or not!). 

This brings me to my present topic - Fast and Furious Coffins. I'm sure, most of us would have seen the Paul Walker tribute movie Furious 7 by now and cried out their hearts, but that movie triggered something on my way back home. Paul Walker died in a car crash, which is tragic, but, so many of us die everyday due to car crash in this country. Yet, we hear none of those stories on TV or print media. All we hear is incessant amount of 5 star stinking rubbish (except Arnab as no one wants the nation to get angry and ask for answers) about presstitutes and AAP rift! 

We do have bigger issues as a developing nation.So, here through my blog posts, I have decided to generate awareness about these issues, hoping, that someday, things will get better and we Indians would slowly come to terms with liking each other.

The subject of driver's safety is a touchy topic. Around the world, the subject of safety is very important, complex and a far reaching subject. It is top of the mind for every person buying a car, and rightly so. However, in India things doesn't seem to be the same way and the auto manufacturers driven by their profit mentality seem to care only about sales figures compared to road safety. So ,who is responsible for us? This answer though very simple, presents a complex scenario. As drivers, we are of course responsible, but in a country where money is not in abundance and everyone wants a vehicle, we should not the trusted. Hence, it comes down mostly to policy formation, which is our only hope of saving a little more Indian lives on roads.

  Representational Image of a Crash Test

So getting down to the issue of safe driving experience, there are few points we should keep in mind: 

1. There is only one good type of crash. It is the one that, God forbid, does not happen. But, if you want that to be a reality, you want to ensure your car delivers best braking performance, best visibility, best lighting at night, good suspension and good driver comfort.
2. Ethical blindness should be replaced by Corporate Social Responsibility. Ethical blindness makes good people do bad stuff which is what is happening in India. For e.g, a comment made by a certain someone from the Auto industry "Addition of airbags and ABS will hike the cost, thus lowering the sales". Well, what do I even respond to this thinking? May be you guys can help me out!!
3. There is a belief, that accidents happen due to bad drivers. However, not all accidents happen due to bad drivers. Hence, it becomes very important, to have certain things mandatory for our drivers.
4. Driving is a responsibility. This is something we should start believing. The road we drive on is not our own. It belongs to everyone. Hence, we should be mindful of our surroundings and take extra precautions not to cut corners. Hey, we all know, better late than never!!!

Well, the above points bring me to the legislation part which I feel should include the following points:

1. Mandatory ABS, airbags for all vehicles.
2. Occupant protection standards in case of Interior Impact
3. Crash test standards on the lines of EURO NCAP (possibly stricter, so as to set a benchmark above all)
4. Child/Baby passenger safety requirements and seating arrangement awareness with advertisements and print ads. I feel, people will at least be more responsive to this ad than the smoking one which is just a waste of money!!!!
5. Tyre specifications, in line with tyre change awareness. Also, advisory should be issued for Vehicle manufacturers to introduce on-board tyre pressure monitoring systems to reduce chances of blowouts and other safety issues that happen due to tyre pressure. 
6. Structure specifications with body metal thickness minimum specifications. 
7. Material specifications for general build of the automobile.
8. Safety belt reminder (audio+visual) to be made mandatory for all cars which should continue even if the vehicle is moving.

The above points will at least make our drivers a little safer on roads than they are at present. I believe it is about time or else it will be too late. Lets make Indian lives most precious on the planet :) 

JAI HIND!!!