C’mon, cycle or walk this car-free day

A few days back, we had invited our friends over, along with their teenage son, for evening tea. Suddenly, in the middle of the get-together, their son was reminded of the Maths tuition that he had scheduled. The tutor’s house was just a stone’s throw from our home. His father told him to go walking as it was nearby. The son had none of it. Rather, he felt denigrated and insisted that he be dropped in the car. My friend had to give in and was constrained to drive him for 200 metres or so.

Many of us don’t think twice before using our cars to run even small errands which we can do with a little bit of walking or cycling. The other day, my wife was driving with the family and we got caught up in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Since I was the co-driver, I decided to walk along the stranded vehicles to check out the cause of this major hold-up.

I was stupefied to find that the majority of the cars had just one occupant-cum-driver occupying a disproportionate space on the road. I was reminded of the wisdom of the odd-even rule that was briefly implemented sometime back in Delhi. However, it didn’t last long, thanks to our self-centred society.

All of us need to take ownership of improving our traffic ecosystem. After all, any city is a highly complex self-adaptive system formed by the conduct of the people who live in it. We all contribute to the unwritten rules that make a city run. It is in our ‘rational self-interest’ to follow (or break) rules to make our own lives easier. It all boils down to the culture we set in, be it a car-free day or for that matter the traffic rules.

With a burgeoning population and an increase in the financial capacity to buy a car, the space on Indian roads has shrunk considerably. The poor food delivery boys have become mindless robots, driving at breakneck speed to deliver the goodies to their customers to meet the deadlines laid down by their corporate honchos, who are focused on generating profits. It is a perfect recipe for accidents.

We can take a leaf out of the meticulous implementation of ‘dry days’ in our Army peace stations. In my unit, 15 Punjab, we strictly observed Fridays and Sundays as ‘dry days’. Not a single vehicle moved, except in case of a medical emergency. All officers had bought cycles and went about their duties on the cycle right from the morning PT, to the training area and right till the night duty checks, irrespective of the rank.

We, as a responsible society, must support hard decisions by the Central or state governments. Whether it’s dictated or not by the authorities, wherever possible, let’s all give up our cars on September 22, the World Car-Free Day.