Sir,
Kindly refer to the news item,”Five of family killed as car plunges into gorge” (Daily Excelsior, January 21, 2017). Such heartwringing headlines have become common place and point to callousness of the people who manage our roads and traffic. As reported the cause of the mishap was a large pit dug by a private telecom agency on the edge of Jammu-Akhnoor road near Domana petrol pump. In a bid to to avoid the pit, the driver of the car lost control over his speeding car and plunged into about 20 feet gorge along the road.
The tragic accident brings to mind three important aspects of road and traffic management. First and foremost is the fact that our roads are in a bad state at most places and at most of the time. Secondly agencies be it telecom or any other dig pits and cut roads at will any time , anywhere they like and leave them open. Most of our roads in Jammu now a days have been dug up by ERA and manholes left open without any mandatory indication whatsoever to caution the drivers and pedestrians. Just a visit to the Medical College Hospital and other hospitals and clinics in the city will show how many people report with broken limbs every day.Thirdly and most importantly there is no proper management and mechanism in place for road safety and traffic control. Road safety and traffic control are just non existent in our State.If these existed then the tragic loss of lives like the one yesterday and many more could be prevented.
I hope those who are responsible for this tragedy are taken to task and the affected families are compensated adequately.
Yours etc….
Prof. B. L. Kaul
Sarwal, Jammu
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