A middle class family now can afford a car or can certainly rent a car for their trip on the road. I have now treated several accident victims at Trichy for the last two years. The injuries are quite typical.
1. The driver either dies or suffers from chest injuries with multiple rib fractures. He would end up having pneumo or hemothorax namely collection of air or blood around the lungs which can be life threatening.
2. The front seat passenger suffers from facial injuries, head injuries as he or she is thrown on to the windscreen and either dies or presents to the hospital. They have problems with air going to the wind pipe and may die if not recognized. As they are trying to protect themselves going forward, they put their hands forwards and suffers from upper limb injuries on both sides. They may also suffer from disocated hip joints
3. The rear seat passengers suffer from lower limb and upper limb injuries, chest injuries and abdominal injuries. They are like the toy within a shell which is popular toy with the children. you shake the shell and the toy inside rattles inside. The rear seat passengers are rattled inside the hard car shell and get multiple injuries.
4. Children often escape due to the pliability of the tissues though it is not guaranteed.
Now the big question then is, what should one do
1. understand the local traffic paths. most accidents happen when a driver goes into an area without experience of local traffic. Meaning that the traffic path of pedestricans, cyclists, two wheelers, tractors, lorries, buses can be in any direction at a given place. hence following traffic rules in India is not enough, but understand the traffic rules as followed by the other person.
to understand the first point, remember the shortest possible route would be taken by an Indian wherever he or she goes and whatever possible method of transport he is using.
2.Always wear a helmet and Seat Belt when riding in in a two wheeler and a car respectively. The injuries as i had listed can be largely prevented by seat belt and i stress most of the times.
3. Remember using a vehicle such as a two wheeler or a car is for comfort and not for speed of access to reach a given point. I am not saying that you should not go fast, but keep telling yourselves that i am having a nice comfortable ride as opposed to going in a crowded bus .i am not using the car to go quickly from point A to B
4. Do not drive the car if you are the driver if your passengers would not wear a seat belt, i.e your family for example. This should be one of the golden rules you must follow to protect your family. do not yield to reasons for not wearing seat belts.
5. When driving during the day time, be aware of smarties driving into your lane from the opposite side. the left lane is safer in a dual carriage way
6. when driving at the night time. be aware of smarties who have parked their vehicles or driving without any lights at the back. you will smash to their back
7.If you can avoid, and i must say that you should avoid any night time driving as a family or in business. It is not worth it
8. Traffic awareness is not there in India with most road users and when combined with lack of speed awareness, then it is a lethal combination.
One of my good friends advised that preferrably avoid going anywhere or reduce the amount of time you spend travelling to increase your chances of living in India.
I felt sad when i learnt of the death of the minister today and i felt that it is time i Shared some of the road safety issues to you
Chockalingam
