A Few Eyes Are Waiting For You

Whenever you leave your home, you always say “Goodbye!”, “See you soon!” or “See you in the evening” and so on. It means that you always leave home with a hope and desire of meeting your loved ones again. That is why a few eyes are always waiting for you when you are not at home and these dull eyes brighten up as soon as they see you again. It is perfectly fine to have fun in life but not such fun that costs your life and the smile of your loved ones.

If we see the trend of number of private owned vehicles in the past years, it has tremendously gone upwards, the reasons being easy EMI options, need to save time, enhancement in general income level of the society and more demand for luxury as people do not prefer travelling through the rush of public transport. As the streets are more crowded these days, the number of accidents has significantly risen. Driving at high speed, racing with friends, overtaking from the wrong side, drunken driving and breaking rules are a common trend among the spoilt youngsters these days and they call it cool. It is not that the entire generation thinks the same way, but because of some not so intelligent ones, all the youngsters are thought to be the same. Not only the ones with vehicle but the pedestrians are also at fault many a times. Talking on phone or chatting while walking on roads, ignoring horns blown by vehicle drivers and being inattentive while crossing the roads are the instances when the pedestrian is at fault. Unfortunately, mostly in such cases, the vehicle owner who hits him is blamed and punished even if it was not his fault.

The role of parents is very important in teaching children what is right and what is wrong as far as road sense is concerned. Though the masses are more educated these days in comparison to the past years yet they tend to forget the difference between right and wrong under the pressure of the society called ‘Status Symbol’. Kids make high demands and the parents fulfil them for the sake of peer pressure or an image in the society forgetting that the life of their children is more important and precious than their image in the society.

This starts with a 6th Class kid riding elder sibling’s scooty for the first time. He enjoys the experience and often seeks permission for the same repeatedly. Now this becomes a habit and the parents hand over the keys to their young teen kid to bring some daily need goods from the local market. The kid is happy on riding a motor vehicle and the parents are happy that their time is saved. They are even happy thinking that they are making their kid independent and responsible. The immature child thinks it cool and drives slowly when parents are near and does rash driving whenever he gets a chance. Afterall this switch from bicycle to scooty gives them wings. The parents feel that now their child is sensible enough and teach him/her driving a car in class 9th. Now the teenager is flying and feels that he knows everything in the world and starts breaking rules of speed because he feels that if his parents support underage driving, driving without a license or helmet or with a fake license then there is nothing wrong in driving at great speed just for fun.

In this way a chain of wrong activities starts. These are enhanced if a teenager gets a personal vehicle while still underage and immature. Hanging out with friends on vehicles, more than two people on a two-wheeler, over speeding, talking on phone while driving, changing routes on seeing a traffic policeman on the way is just the starting. These habits should not be allowed to develop and if developed then should be nipped in the bud. Parents are the idols of their kids and they should be good and wise enough to first themselves understand correct and incorrect and then make their kids understand the same. Otherwise road accidents or even deaths of young teens are bound to happen.

Many times, it is neither the fault of the parents nor the fault of the person driving. On such occasions, it is often the fault of system which leads to accidents. Non-availability of traffic policemen during peak traffic hours, poorly lit up roads, missing sign boards, mismanagement of stray animals which suddenly come on the road and cause accidents, poor roads, roads being dug up and no warning sign-board is being put on the road; are only a few reasons to be named. Also, the garbage piled up on road sides also cause disturbances while driving. Many times the traffic policemen are not so strict as far as helmet is concerned. They do not charge fine from the ones not wearing helmets. Therefore many people do not wear helmets or wear only at those places where the police checking is going on. Four-wheelers are not much affected by these but the two-wheelers are the prime sufferers.

Ignoring and breaking rules is not a wise man’s decision. Rules were created on a sound basis and after a lot of rational thinking. Driving age was set at 18 because by that age, a person attains a certain level of maturity that is enough to drive a vehicle on road. This age was set because driving is not an easy task. The brain is required to carry out multiple actions simultaneously like managing the speed and distance from other vehicles. Also the reflexes should be sound and quick enough to avoid accidents in sudden unexpected situations. All this cannot be handled by a child’s brain in such an appropriate manner as it can be handled by an adult’s brain.

It is important for everyone to understand his/her responsibility towards the society. We all must ensure that we move safely and carefully on the roads and do not cause trouble for anyone because our one wrong action may spoil or take the life of someone and leave us with guilt for the rest of our life. We do not understand the importance of a thing till it is lost yet we must understand that our life is important and so are all our body parts. Even a hairline fracture gives us so much pain that it is enough to explain the pain of multiple fractures caused due to accidents. We must be careful and a responsible citizen of our country.

We must leave our homes with a vow that we will try our best to return home safe and sound. We must avoid use of mobile phones while walking or driving on roads. We must follow the rules, wisely differentiate between right and wrong and also be mature enough to understand that the one who follows rules is respected in the society more than who breaks them just to show off other materialistic objectives. We must keep all our senses alert and walk or drive in a cautious manner. Even if we are not the earning member of the family, we are an important part of our family and the society. There are many people who love us and cannot see us in pain. We must ensure that we never disappoint those eyes which are waiting for us. Losing our loved ones is a very painful moment and we must make attempts to save our loved ones from this pain. Though everything is not in our hands yet we must try our best to make this place a better place to live.

Our duty on roads does not end here. We must not be selfish and try to help anyone who meets with an accident on the road. Moreover we have studied our national pledge in childhood and we must help our fellow citizens because ‘All Indians are my brothers and sisters.’ The Karma Cycle explained in the Gita also tells us to do good deeds and our good deeds will return to us. Afterall a few eyes are eagerly waiting for others as well to return home safe and sound