good motoring
Drive with pleasure
H. Kishie Singh

The Chandigarh administration is on a drive to challan people who urinate and defecate in the open in the city. This is an attempt to improve the sanitary conditions.

This is a sight we often see: a car or mobike is parked on the road and the driver has walked a few metres away to relieve himself. The more adventurous ones may have a cell phone glued to the ear. A fine example of multi-tasking.

But here is what can go wrong. A couple of weeks ago, a man driving a brand new Skoda stopped to relieve himself on the road dividing Sectors 18 and 19. A man engaged in such an activity is partially undressed and as such in a vulnerable situation. Two goons walking by decided to make the most of the situation. They accosted the man, relieved him of his watch, wallet, mobile phone and car keys. They drove off in his new car. The man was relieved in more ways than one.

The problem was, how to file an FIR. On such an occasion, the police suspect collusion. It could be an attempt to claim insurance on a car which was not genuinely stolen, and the same applies to the watch, wallet and mobile phone. The moral of the story: start driving on an empty bladder.

As a child, I remember, whenever the family moved out, mother made sure that the last thing the children did was to go to the toilet. Adults would be well advised to do the same.

There is another point to keep in mind while driving on city roads. According to the Chandigarh Traffic Police, 25 per cent of all accidents in Chandigarh occurred on Madhya Marg. This road alone accounted for 54 fatalities last year. This should come as a warning to all clear-thinking drivers.

There is another point to consider. Drivers should chart out what road they should take to get from point A to B. Consider the least crowded road and avoid busy roads like Madhya Marg. Less crowded roads would be safer and easier to drive on. There would be less gear changes, less braking and even though the kilometres travelled could be more, the time taken would be less. It would be easier on you, the driver, the car and, most important, you could get better fuel average.

Because Indian drivers do not know what a yellow line means in the middle of the road, the U.T. Administration has been obliged to build road medians on most of the roads. This is to reduce accidents, especially head-on collision because of aggressive overtaking.

Every driver must have had this thought sometime: anyone going slower than him is an idiot and any driver faster than him is a maniac. It is not necessary to overtake the car or cars ahead of you. If you drive patiently, driving will become a pleasure, less stressful and traffic will flow faster.

There will be something new on our city roads that drivers will have to contend with. Motorised rehris. So, expect more confusion on the roads, as 25 per cent of all accidents on city roads are accounted for by cycle-rickshaws. Will the rehris be licensed? Will the drivers have driving licences? Or will they be just let loose? Time will tell.

Happy motoring.