Defensive driving has its benefits

Col Avnish Sharma (retd)

Struck by a spate of military transport accidents in his command, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) convened an address to all officers of the division. ‘Gentlemen, we must adopt defensive driving as our mantra...’ and stressed on holding training classes for the rank and file to hone the skills involved in this novel concept. Some young officers, not so enthused by the word ‘defence’ walked up to the General during the tea break and expressed apprehension of drilling a defensive mindset rather than an offensive one, and if carried too far, may impinge on the operational performance of troops. The General was pleasantly amused on the offensive spirit of his young leaders and decided to quell the literal meaning of defensive driving. His golden gospel, as I recollect today, nearly 35 years after I spearheaded the discussion with the General as part of the youth clan of the Army, had long-term logic. ‘Son, just grant an extra degree of error to fellow motorists. Hone the skill of patience and everything else will fall into place.’ The mantra stood by me during service, and I ended my innings in the Army with ‘more or less’ no accident, both involving me or the troops that I commanded.

Back home, I did practise it during stints of leave. Things, however, have graduated from good to bad to assuming worse dimensions. Unprecedented increase in vehicle density on the good old roads, coupled with proportionate increase of undisciplined traffic, travails of drunk driving, distractions of mobile phones, FM music and rolled-up windows, lane-jumping, and so on, have turned the business of commuting a challenge. I have stuck to defensive driving with determination, whether it entails driving or parking. All this did test my patience and delayed my itineraries, but has kept me away from mishaps, arguments or road rage episodes.

The flip side, the other day, however, left me with both sour and sweet pangs. During an aimless shopping jaunt some days into the end of season sale, we got caught at a busy intersection with non-functional traffic lights. It was a typical snarl. With everybody clamouring to proceed ahead, and no one to regulate the traffic, it was a virtual logjam. I had no option but to patiently wait for orderliness to prevail, which materialised only once the lights came back to life — a good half an hour later! During my steadfast resolve to avoid muddling with the distraught traffic in the middle, I had to listen to incessant honking by trailing vehicles and snide looks from my co-passenger, my wife, who, when we started from home, was upbeat on the prospect of owning a piece of jewellery at a rich discount. We did finally reach our expensive destination, but alas late. The place had shut down for the day, the last day of the discount. The agonising delay at the lights saved me monetary drain! I prefer sticking to defensive driving for life!

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