Help Save Lives: Car Manufacturers Should Offer Basic Safety

Ashish implores carmakers to do their bit to save lives

I set out for office with a defined agenda today – to count the number of people, as far as I could, who had their ears decorated by fancy mobile phones while driving. At my last count, the number was already 33. My commute to office is about 16 kilometers – so, 33 is quite an impressive figure!

In my drive from home to office, there are at least three sections that experience quite heavy, and painfully slow, traffic flow. One of the stretches is also a toll road, and the guys manning the counters at the toll collection point look as if they’ve been forced into labour by their mothers-in-law.

Over time, owing to the mad of rush traffic that Delhi faces everyday, people have started leaving for work earlier than usual. I see long queues of cars as early as 8 in the morning, regularly. And don’t even get me started about how pathetic the scene is at ‘peak hours.’ So, for the better part of 4 hours every morning, and for almost the same number of hours in the evening, daily, Delhi-NCR is chock-a-block-full of people in-and-on their vehicles attempting to get to their given destinations.

At these times, you find a lot of drivers clinging to their phones with one hand, while negotiating traffic with the steering wheel, and shifting gears, with the other – multitasking masters, I tell you. No matter how much the government law-enforcement agencies, like the Traffic Police and other affiliates, try to put into effect the practice of not using mobile phones while driving, let’s face it – people will keep ignoring it, and continue to use their phones. All it takes is a flash of a 50 or 100 rupee note, depending on the seniority of the cop who catches you – which again is a dark truth that lives, despite constant furore of the common man and ersatz pep-talk of our netas.

So, when our political superheroes can’t do much, and citizens won’t stop acting illogical and irresponsible, it is, as I see it, the duty of the automotive manufacturers to take the matter in their own hands and set things right.

A great portion of our automotive industry is made up of hatchbacks – entry-level to premium – and the segment is growing rapidly. Now, it is a very cost sensitive sector and I totally understand the manufacturer play of giving ridiculous features that sound good on the back of their brochure but have no practical purpose in the functioning of an automobile whatsoever. Instead, however, I urge them to offer basic, and useful, features like Bluetooth and ABS as standard fitments. Yes, that’s it – I only want Bluetooth and ABS to be made standard. You may taunt me by saying I’ve skipped airbags, but let’s first talk about basic safety measures, and implement them before we go further – shall we?

In the NCR alone, about 1,400 cars are added on the roads every day – so, with the number swelling at that pace, the chances of something or the other going wrong are quite strong. And then is the issue of strained human tolerance – of which we’ve read many articles highlighting shootouts and stabbings.

Handling a phone, steering, brakes, gear lever, the car next to you that’s getting precariously close to the wing mirror, and that idiot who’s touched your rear bumper ever-so-lightly – who then happily waves, requesting forgiveness – all takes a toll on your mind. It’s no surprise, then, that arguments happen.

Of course, no one can do anything to control a person’s temper, but providing Bluetooth will at least allow the driver to devote his limbs towards the job of driving, and that should ensure substantially more control over the car. And I want ABS because that’s the most basic active safety feature that we can ask for. Almost all accidents happen because the vehicle fails to stop in time, or loses control under panic braking. ABS solves this, and gives you greater confidence in the vehicle.

We’ve been harping on about lifting up the bar of road safety in India for a long time, but it’s still a sorry figure. The least we can do is ensure that cars hit the road with active and passive safety features like ABS and Bluetooth. And there’s no price that anyone can assign to a human life – so let’s not talk about ROI here, because that’ll be pathetic.