Crash,Boom,Bang

We’re,however,at the top of our game when it comes to projecting a false concern for safety. There’ll be regular safety weeks and safety drives where the local constabulary puts its best self-righteous face forward. Nothing is achieved.

Then,there’s the overused “speed thrills but kills” tagline. The combination that strikes the killer blow consists of unsafe conditions,a loss of control and an unsafe car. If speed killed in isolation,we’d be dead every time we hit 1,000 kph in an aircraft. And what do they do to prevent this “over-speeding”? They impose absurd speed limits like 30 kph on wide,high-speed roads so that they can catch everyone and his grandmother “speeding”. And by this standard,anyone and everyone is a “rash and negligent driver”.

Next comes the great driving licence tamasha. I was recently horrified to witness first-hand a driving test that lasted only 30 metres. And the driver in question was no Sebastian Vettel,I can assure you. He almost reversed over the foot of his own tout.

Our perfectly manicured and lovingly built and cared-for roads are up next. You couldn’t design a better obstacle course,even if you tried. Featuring ditches with bus-swallowing capabilities,traffic islands specially designed to create lethal blind spots and junctions full of distracted or suicidal pedestrians,there’s nothing quite like it anywhere.

And then there are the cars themselves. Current crash tests in India are nothing more than a joke and that allows manufacturers to get away with making fundamentally unsafe cars that wouldn’t be fit for markets anywhere else. And everyone is guilty. Right from the makers of basic utility vehicles,to well established and respected Indian car companies (think Bolero,Sumo and Omni here). And now even global car makers are cashing in. Many new low-cost cars are built on antiquated and fundamentally “un-crash-worthy” platforms and others are built cheap because they don’t need to meet the same crash test norms.

India is widely regarded as one of the most unsafe places to drive. And the blame rests on all of our shoulders. There is no culture of safety and the half-baked measures we employ are not enough. It begins with car drivers,who scorn rules and regulations,and is worsened by the dangerous driving environment. Our licensing procedure is truly dismal,enforcement is way below par and,finally,many car manufacturers themselves make cars that only meet the absolutely minimal safety requirements by a hair’s breath.

The worst part is that things don’t seem to be looking up. Yes,there is an effort to improve the most dangerous roads in India,safety norms are getting slowly better,and some car companies like Maruti are looking at driver education seriously. But if processes carry on at this glacial pace,matters will get much worse before they get better. And improving in one area is not going to make much of a difference. We need to first be aware,then accept that there is a problem and then improve all aspects of the safety equation. And this just doesn’t seem to be happening. So,as it is with many things in modern India,you are on your own.

Make sure you belt-up every time you go for a drive,stop religiously at the lights and ask the car salesman difficult questions about safety. Else,it could well be you and your family who end up being the crash-test dummies.

The writer is deputy editor,Autocar India