It was a proud and a delightful moment for the father sitting as a pillion rider, while his 12-year old son drove the scooty. Suddenly, a car came out of nowhere. Not knowing what to do, the boy turned the handle in the other direction and the scooty crashed. The boy’s father lost his life…
Whose fault was it? Do we have a reply?
The father was happy that he was making his child independent at such a small age. On the other hand, aspiring to be like his father, the boy did not know the consequences of driving at such a tender age. Can the child really pardon himself for the loss of his father? Or should he?
We as a society have failed to develop our children as ‘Safety Gentlemen’.
Today, parents with great pride & confidence, allow their young children to drive a vehicle. Parents think it will make their child self-reliant. But will it really? Are these children even capable of making life decisions at such a young age? There is a reason why the government has permitted the legal age of driving a non-geared two-wheeler only at 16, whereas, a geared two-wheeler and a four-wheeler still needs you to be 18.
Are we smarter than the system? Parents tend to take the system for granted and then blame the system again for the chaos. They don’t realize that they themselves are responsible for bringing indiscipline on the roads and putting their child’s life at risk. Parents ought to understand that maturity can’t have double standards. Safety is an attitude and its first teaching starts at home.
‘Safety’ should be made obligatory in the school curriculum from the primary classes itself. Schools should provide professional training to teachers who can impart quality road safety education to the students.
This is how we can develop a generation of ‘Safety Gentlemen’.
Today, the condition of the nation is horrifying with 16 children killed in road accidents every day. When our children are taught about road safety, they will bring about the change in the system and mind-sets.
These ‘Safety Gentlemen’ will give rise to a safer generation, who will perhaps someday, make India the first accident-free country in the world.
The visions are drawn long term – But we also need to build a ROADMAP.
Be Safe Zindagi in an initiative by Hindustan Zinc to achieve the mission of making Rajasthan an accident free state.
