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It was sometime in the early 1970s that the Arabs switched off the oil taps to the United States of America. Overnight, America whose lifeline is the automobile, was in a tizzy. When an American motorist drove into a filling station he was greeted with a poster, "Maximum $3.00 per car!" Horror of horrors, petrol rationing in the USA. "In God we Trust", is their motto "but on the Arabs we depend."
To prevent the overuse of fuel, the government passed a law which came into force immediately. The maximum speed limit was restricted to 60 m.p.h. (96 km.p.h.) from 80 m.p.h (128 km.p.h.). This had an immediate effect. The gallon was stretched farther, and there was better fuel consumption. Americans who lived a couple of hundred miles south of the Canadian border would drive to Canada. They kept getting the $3.00 worth along the way. In Canada, they would get a full tank. There was no petrol rationing in Canada. This upset the Yanks who envied the Canadians driving around in big American cars and could fill up any time anywhere. This earned the Canadians the soubriquet "blue-eyed Arabs in the North!" There was nothing the Americans could do except tighten their seatbelts and swallow their pride. But things did happen. Within three months, the pressure of oil imports was not so great. Americans drove slower but breathed easier. There was a corollary to the reduced speed limit. The law was enacted in the fall which means that during the winter the next four to six months the roads would be snowed under, icy and dangerous. This is the period for most accidents. Yet by spring, the insurance companies reported a drop in claims. Less accidents meant less injured and killed. The $3.00 worth of fuel went farther. Car pools mushroomed. It was a win-win situation for everyone. In India, Rs 30,000 crore is paid out in compensation for auto-related accidents. There are lessons to be learnt from the American experience. Lower speed meant less accidents, less injuries, less damage to cars. Better fuel average, less stress and fatigue on the driver. The greatest beneficiary of the reduced speed limit would be the pedestrian and cyclist. The smallest of cars on our roads must weight 750 kg, mostly steel. Moving at a leisurely speed of 30-40 km.p.h. the impact force is enough to made human flesh and bone into strawberry jam-like consistency. However, posting new speed limits will not achieve anything. They have to be enforced. We are an indisciplined nation and drivers have a devil-may-care attitude. Proof of this is best seen at the Transport Chowk at 6 am in the morning. No one stops at the red lights on Madhya Marg en route to catch the Shatabadi and speeds of 80-90 km.p.h. are common. The same scenario is to be seen at the Railway Chowk. If posted on duty at that early hour at Transport Chowk, the police will have a bountiful harvest of challans. There is another solution for this problem. Portable speed breakers. As the police go off duty at night, a portable steel speed breaker can be put across Madhya Marg. It will control late-night drunks and early morning red-light raiders. They can be removed by 7.30 am to allow the flow of normal traffic. Normal traffic? Whatever that means !
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