A CRIMINOLOGIST’S DIARY-3

Satan Accusing the Sinner

Bentonville in Arkansas is not a big city like Dallas (in Texas) from where we came here a few weeks back. Dallas-it was there President Mr. John F. Kennedy was assassinated and we had been there to that spot about a few days ago. The roads in Bentonville are as good as they are in Dallas and I could notice a method of driving- a system in driving. People respected lane traffic and they truly obeyed the signals. No policeman is seen anywhere controlling and regulating thousands of vehicles running at 60-70 miles per hour. Of course, there are cameras fixed everywhere to book the violators of traffic laws and rules.

Although we were with Neethie who drove the car for us through the streets of Bentonville, my thoughts were in Kerala. I was thinking about road accidents in Kerala. WE used to view Malayalam T.V.channels via Bom TV network and every day we sadly listened to deaths owing to traffic accidents. Why? Discussions are held by the media and the people speak a lot about many reasons for the increasing road accident rate in Kerala, in India. Of course, they are all crackpot theories and I simply refuse to blame always drivers for the accidents in 1956 when the State was reorganized and now when the State in the I.T.world. The cliché ridden explanations like 'rash and negligent driving', over speed, reluctance to observe the traffic rules etc. may be there as contributory factors. I am inviting the attention of the authorities and want to ask them a simple question-"Are our roads worthy of calling roads? "In circus tents, we see a programme called 'Driving into a Death well 'People see the programme without breathing and all the time praying to God, the Almighty: 'Oh, God ,nothing undesirable should happen to the unfortunate driver into the Death-well'. And when the programme is over, people have a sigh of relief. Almost that way, our people are tensed when they are on roads with gutters, without tarring/proper tarring, without road markings/proper markings, with wrong sign boards, with insufficient signaling or with improper signaling or wrong signaling, with people who do not know how to regulate or control vehicular traffic on roads having water pockets, road side vendors ,with lights blocking eye sights, without lights/proper lights, with a variety of vehicles of all descriptions, with drivers who know little or nothing about road rules and laws, with pedestrians, cycles and cyclists,beggars,old men, physically handicapped, without pedestrian tracks….and thus the litany of road defects and defaults of authorities is very long. A country/State which collects enormously huge amount as road tax does not invest adequate fund for road development and they accuse the drivers overlooking theirs. Ridiculous indeed!