Abhisehk Vij
Due to environmental pollution, it is commonly said that the seasons have gone awry. Rain falls when the rainy season is over. There is no end to the severity of summer and winter. Currently, there is a severe cold spell. Fog and mist prevail. On one hand, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is proud that under the Modi government’s rule, he has expanded the country’s road transport network. The roads have become modern and developed. Four-lane and six-lane expressways have completely transformed the era of road transport in the country.
However, along with the improvement of roads, there is a neglect of the safety of drivers and the administration’s failure to fulfill its objectives of ensuring adequate road safety, while the fate of broken roads is being handled in a corrupt manner. In such a situation, the news constantly coming from the roads of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh is of horrific accidents. On the Yamuna Expressway, near milestone 127 on the Mathura to Noida side, 11 vehicles collided one after another due to fog. Nine vehicles caught fire in Dehradun. 13 people were burned alive, and more than a hundred were injured. Only three of the deceased were identified; the rest were reduced to skeletons. The remains of the bodies had to be packed into 18 body bags.
When one vehicle collided with another due to the fog and stopped, other vehicles kept colliding with it from behind. When visibility was zero, why were these vehicles allowed to travel at such reckless speeds in Dehradun? Later, after such a horrific accident, traffic had to be stopped for 6 hours on the Noida side. Punjab and Haryana are also not spared from these traffic woes. In Barnala, five people died in road accidents at two different places on Tuesday morning due to fog. A family from Tarn Taran was going to Haryana in a car with their daughter’s wedding gifts. On the way, the car collided with a divider and overturned, killing three members of the family. Air services at Amritsar airport were also affected by the fog.
And this is not all; road accidents occurred in many places in Punjab. In Tapa, a car and a trailer collided, resulting in the deaths of a mother and daughter.
Air travel has been difficult lately due to a shortage of pilots, and now the weather has also started wreaking havoc. 131 flights have been canceled due to fog, and more than 400 are delayed. Unfortunately, it seems that the harsh winter weather will not leave us alone, as a yellow alert for dense fog has been issued for the next few days. Clearly, visibility for drivers will be zero. Minor issues are often overlooked.
Firstly, why aren’t lights switched on to clearly mark parked vehicles in such dense fog? Secondly, stray animals are still seen roaming on the roads during this weather. On the roads of Himachal Pradesh, from Hoshiarpur in Punjab to Jwalamukhi (Himachal Pradesh), stray animals are a common sight and cause disruptions. The government must take some basic steps to prevent such incidents.
Firstly, there should be proper lighting on the roads, and secondly, the government should install appropriate traffic signs for driving in these conditions. It is observed that in the case of an accident, the injured are left to their own fate. Passersby, fearing police or legal complications, may record videos of road accidents but do not come forward to help. This situation must change; it is a call for humanity.