A matter not to be taken light-ly

H. Kishie Singh

According to the Global Road Safety report, 2015 released by the World Health Organization, more than two lakh people were killed on Indian roads. This is the equivalent to a fully-loaded jumbo jet crashing everyday!

The point is India leads the world in road fatalities. One way to rectify this situation is the government needs to act like greased lightening.

A start would be to monitor and control accessories that create dangerous driving situation. As evening falls and darkness descends, vision is reduced, fatigue has definitely increased and we are anxious to get home. Tension builds up. It could be rush hour and time to be extra cautious.

One of the biggest contributors to accidents is bright lights from oncoming cars. Indian drivers insist on driving on high-beam. Not content with that, they add additional lights. The latest disaster in after-sales gizmos are LED lights. Appropriately called day-breakers, these are blinding. Just about every other car has a set of these lights on the bumper, at outside rear view mirror (ORVM) level and even above the windscreen. Drivers with these lights swear by them, on-coming drivers swear at them. These will be a major contributing factor for accidents. These are illegal. Remember Section 70 of the Chandigarh Police Challan Book? No changes allowed.

So what can you do to beat these glaring lights? A disgusting habit that Indian drivers have is that when they are about 10-20 metres away, they go on to high beam. Really nasty! You will be blinded for a couple of seconds. In that time, at 60 kmph, you will cover about 30 metres and may not see what is in your way.

Try and not look into the lights. Slow down as much as possible, keeping in mind you could have a car on your tail. Flip your day/night mirror. Adjust your ORVM, so you are not blinded. Best move would be to let him overtake. If you have been blinded, look down and keep to the left. Follow the white line that indicates the edge of the road. This makes sure you stay on the road.

The Chandigarh Police is on a chalallaning spree for various reasons. Extra lights are not allowed by law. So here is another reason to challan.

If you want to qualify as a good, safe, disciplined driver, you could do the following:-

• Never drive in the city on high beam. Chandigarh is the best-lit city in the country. If on high beam, go to low beam when another car approaches.
• Most cars today have a headlight levelling adjustment. Keep it at the low level.
• While waiting at a red light, use your hand brake. Keeping the foot brake pedal depressed puts on your rear brake lights. That can be an irritant to the driver behind you. This is an example of decency. We lack it!
• Get new wiper blades now! And keep the windshield washer fluid bottle full. Night driving will leave bugs spattered on the wind screen reducing vision. Clean the windshield regularly to have 100 per cent visibility.

Happy motoring !