Sunday, December 10, 2006

The Weapon Of Mass Destruction and the counter measures.

What is your greatest fear? Gunned down by a stranger rogue? Mobbed and robbed by a bunch of bandits on your way back home? Hit by a stray missile with a tactical nuclear warhead attached to it ? Or having to sit and watch Ekta kapoor’s KkKk serials. Nothing scares me more than the last one. But there is a far greater danger lurking around all of us waiting to pounce on us and kill us without a minute of thought. Why? Because it can’t think.

Other than the natural causes like diseases and old ages and the natural disaster ones, what kills or injures more humans every year and nobody has ever thought of banning? Guns? No. Missiles? No. This weapon of mass destruction is something you and I hop into every day and go where we want to without the inconvenience of walking or if you are late, running. It’s technically called an automobile. In layman’s terms it’s called Maruti, Chevy, Tata, Benz etc etc.

Have you ever thought that the car you drive around is virtually the biggest killer humans have ever invented? But unlike other inventions like Magnums or Kalashnikovs, automobiles were not intended to hurt people, let alone kill them. Oh well that’s why we call them accidents. Road accidents kill more humans every year than gun shots or cancers. But just like it’s said, cars don’t kill people. People kill people.

Driving safely and carefully doesn’t take much of a hard work. Just keep in my mind a few things and you should be safe.

Just keep your hands on the steering wheel instead of scratching yourself (or there wont be any yourself left to scratch) or serving yourself to a cup of tea, or on your girl friend/boy friend sitting next to you.

Keep your focus on the road instead of the beautiful thing in the car on next lane, or the billboard with a beautiful thing on it or the magazine on your lap with a beautiful thing on it. Or.. ah you got the point. No beautiful things while driving.

Keep your car on earthly speed limits. Stop imagining that you are Schumacher or Raikkonen. You are not 6 yrs old. So stop acting like one. Be responsible and drive inside speed limit.

Stop swerving and swinging your car/motorcycle on road. According to The combined study on motor accidents by various automobile associations show that careless and reckless driving like that is the main cause of death among young drivers. And if that doesn’t scare you, you are not brave. You are just stupid.

Keep your cool. Don’t get pissed off at the guy that just cut you off. What a waste of energy. Instead, laugh at his stupidity, relax and drive. And if you really want to do something about it, flip a finger.

Stop honking, its not music. There are people who think that in a traffic jam, if they honk, somehow everything in front of them will magically disappear. Same with the tailgaters. Well if you really fancy the sound of a horn, spend a bit and get yourself a siren.

Don’t drink and drive- If you can’t walk straight, or talk sense or stop laughing/crying which you are doing for no reason then you definitely can’t drive.

No backseat driving. Please. Left hand drive or right hand drive, there is one simple rule all over the world. Only one driver in a vehicle. Distract the back seat driver who is distracting you by giving them something worthwhile and productive to do. Like ask them to sleep or just shut up. Threaten. If that doesn’t work just kick them out. Its better to be safe than having to hear their so sorry running commentary.

Don’t rush, don’t hurry, if you still push you will be sorry ( I made that up. Really.)
The way people rush drive on the roads make one wonder if at one time all of them used to be ambulance drivers. Drive sensibly. Don’t listen to those mad men. The “End” is not near. You have a family to go back to. Think about them.

Follow the rules.- I know rules are made to be broken, but when you break rules you might also break your bones.

And finally look in the mirror. No, not in the rear view mirror while you are driving. Start with yourself if you want something to be changed. Wear your seatbelts, follow the rules, don’t forget your signals and drive with passion and compassion. Vrrooom !

No comments: