Safe Driving : I do love you guys who read this blog more

I was to send this out yesterday, and may be our colleague may have seen it and not been part of the accident.

We are all software professionals, the operative word is professionals. As a professional, we understand the need to follow professional standards. Why a standard? A standard is meant to help us communicate by suggesting to the others that they can expect a code of behavior. We all use vehicles for commuting that are far harder, faster and make more damaging impact than what would be if we collided with each other while walking. We can cause Death, Permanent Disability, Disability, and losses to the individual, the family, property of a much higher order than we can truly fathom if we have not been close to one such incident.

Accidents usually happen to others… I know what I am doing…everyone drives badly….even if I drive on the wrong side I am careful… I was in a hurry….I had to do another 2 kms (or 50 meters) as there was a road divider, who will go all the way around…everyone was doing it… my son is only 13 but drives far better than most adults I know… I have taught him to drive so he is good…..I only followed the other guy …are just some of the refrains that you will be telling yourself at every moment that you decide to break some rules.

Some thoughts I have…

You need Self Discipline to be driving..

Will drive only if I have a license.
Will not allow any under aged child of ours or younger siblings to drive in contravention of law, i.e. without a driving license. Will keep vehicle keys out of reach of adventurous minors/unlicensed drivers.
Will follow all driving rules and ask all my friends to do the same.
Will not drink and drive and will prevent others from drinking and driving
An equally important corollary of the above is that I will not drive under sedation, when extremely tired, when I am under tremendous stress, while I am on the mobile phone… this applies to any situation when all your faculties, eyes, ears, mind, hands and feet that you use to drive a vehicle are not fully in control.
Will discourage others from breaking driving rules and etiquette or driving dangerously.
Always plan and give yourself enough time to commute, if you are getting delayed for a meeting, call, inform of your delay rather than drive dangerously to make it in time……… Miss your flight, Miss your meeting for god sakes don’t kill anyone, better late than never is the most apt phrase for the road.

One of the common dangerous situations arises when we have our kid on our lap while driving a car or have them sitting on the petrol tank of your motorcycle and allow them to control the direction of the motorbike. My Dad too did this with me but I was too young to be responsible and my father was not. I actually managed to pull the key out of the key hole and threw the key out of the window while the car was in motion. Fortunately, nothing nasty happened and the car which did not have power steering could be safely pulled over to the side…. we survived.


Some General Manthras…

1. Your vehicle should be good for the road (Road worthy). Check all these yourself:
Brakes
Hand brake
Steering,
Engine.
Gear box.
Head lights,
Turning lights,
Parking lights,
Mirrors in place,
Wipers
Tyres

Get your vehicle serviced regularly, you may be able to understand some of the above but a professional garage will do a more professional review of the road worthiness of your vehicle. Check out all important things before you leave the servicing garage, (even they can make mistakes and give your vehicle back half done).

2. Know your vehicle well. Test the various parts, position of the mirrors, gears etc. before you start.
3. Always drive on the correct side of the road, and in the correct lane. In case it is unavoidable as there can be if there is an accident on your lane, then you should have your hazard lights on. (press the button that gets your turning lights to blink on-off-on on both side of the vehicle.
4. Always be polite, even if the other party is at fault, road rage will prevent you from driving carefully once you are angry.
5. Your speed should be adjusted to the speed of the traffic, and appropriate to the distance between yourself and the vehicle ahead, the number of side roads that bring in traffic into the road.
6. Look out for traffic that may come on the wrong side, even if you are a responsible driver, there are many others who are not.
7. Always respect the traffic signals whether manned or unmanned. Do not look out for the absence of the policeman to cheat.
8. At a road signal, always wait for the Go signal to come on before you start. Wait for a couple of seconds to allow traffic that is already crossing to exit the crossing.
9. Do not stop your vehicle in the middle of the road to ask for directions, you should pull over to the side. Middle here means any part of the road that has reasonable traffic.
10. Give way to traffic coming from the right, right has right of way when two vehicles reach the same spot at the same time.
11. Give way to vehicles going up the slope while driving down a slope,
12. Do not make sudden changes to your direction, i.e. without adequate warning to other users of the road. Just because you have put out your hand or given a turning signal does not mean you can make the change to your direction without checking if the signal has been acknowledged by other party. You may still have to wait.
13. Do you know what a shoulder check is? When changing the direction of your vehicle to the right or to the left, you need to look out for vehicles that will pass you that come from either side, front and back. The shoulder check means a check that you do by turning your head so that your eyes sweep the area from your side mirror backwards covering the blind spot between the edge beyond your mirror and what you can see on your rear mirror. This is also to understand how fast the vehicle coming from behind will pass you. It is for this reason, that most side mirror carry this note “Objects in the mirror may be closer than may appear”.
14. It is always good for driver of the larger vehicle to humble, as he/she can cause the most damage. However, you should also keep in mind that the larger vehicles also react more slowly and you need to make allowance for that. How many of you have really understood why “LONG VEHILCE” is written on the back side of some trucks and taken cognizance of that and made changes to your driving decision?
15. Move off from the fast lane to allow others to go ahead, rather than letting them honk you out of the way.
16. Don’t honk… it is rude, flash a signal, look out for no Honk Zones, (as far as possible)
17. Take note of road conditions, cobbled roads, water logging, water and oil slick, sand at the edges can all cause your vehicle to behave abnormally and hence intended actions may turn out very different and dangerous results.
18. When you are coming from a unmetalled side road (kutcha) or road edge onto the main road (example : when we are getting out from our Bavdhan office on to highway), the road condition of the Kutcha road may not be reliable, or the water and slush from other vehicles may make the main road a little unreliable. We need to be very careful and not cause vehicles that are plying on the main road to make abrupt decisions. Why???? Because abrupt/Sudden decisions by these vehicles to brake, swerve and lose control, will cause other vehicles to make other abrupt/sudden changes and cause them to go out of control. Though you may go untouched by the incident, you would have still caused serious damage including death.
19. When you see a car coming out of the road side parking, do you try and speed around it, or do you slow and allow the vehicle to emerge? I see most drivers speeding up to cross the vehicle that is backing out rather than allow the other vehicle to back out. Do we have to be so rude? Why do we swerve around the vehicle, causing other traffic to similarly swerve, brake. I have seen umpteen such accidents happen in Pune on FC Road, of course the swerving motorist is not wearing a helmet.
20. Do not enter the fast lane unless vehicles have slowed down to allow you. Without confirmation of this, have the patience to wait for the traffic to slow down/pass
by. We are taught to cross the road correctly in school much of the same principles still apply.

21. Do not overtake from the wrong side specially a 4 wheeler, half the drivers do not have a side mirror and probably the other half do not look into that mirror. Just because you horn does not mean that they will drift into you. Anyway you are in error.

Some manthras while driving a two wheeler

Always wear a helmet. (I was saved by my heavy full mask ISI certified helmet as my bike skidded off the sand around a corner of a road. The strap around my chin did not break, my head with the helmet hit the road. I got up shaken but alive.)
Provide your pillion with a helmet too, you are always taking someone you care for ride,
Do not carry excess weight, or items that protrude out beyond the boundaries of your vehicle. Do not carry more than one pillion.
Do not drive side by side talking to other two wheeler driver, hogging the road and causing inconvenience to other drivers.
Please make sure that all clothing that is loose is tucked in for both the driver and the pillion. I have stopped at least a 100 motor cyclists asking them to tuck their Duppatta and Sarees so that these do not get into the wheel. My sister had a head injury just before the day of her marriage on my bike. I have felt compelled to stop and correct others ever since. Some thank me, some frown and scowl at this unwanted interference.

I take pride that I drive very very safe, (being slow is not necessarily safe) and I reduce the probability of causing an accident by my deliberate driving discipline.

I urge you all to read more about safe driving and inculcate good and safe driving habits. There are major adjustments to be made in your driving habits as you move from a learner to a licensed driver, as you upgrade from gearless bikes to geared ones, from a two wheeler to a car, from town roads to city roads, to highways and hilly terrains, from country to country. Be alert to all this.

There is much more to safe driving than this. I wrote most of this yesterday, I delayed sending this to all of you and may be lost a chance to stop one accident, and I am feeling somehow responsible for the accident to our colleague yesterday. I have a great deal of love and care for your lives, lives and welfare of your families, so this must reach you today.