By Udit Garg:
How much of the male youth has watched the movie, “The Fast and the Furious”? Â If someone takes a survey of this question, I wouldn’t be surprised with the answer, because it’ll be more than 50% of the males in the city. Though even movies advice not to try the stunts shown in the movie in real life, as it may be dangerous to the lives of oneself or the people around, but in spite of all these warnings, one misunderstands the spirit of true driving. As a reminder for the youth of India, those stunts you see in these movies are done under the supervision of stunt coordinators and a very efficient team of medics and fire fighters, and more importantly, Delhi’s roads, unlike the ones you see in the movies, are densely populated, and irresponsible actions put many lives on the line.
Such adrenaline driving poses a direct threat not only to the one who is driving, but also to the people around him. According to estimates of the United Nations, in 2034, the two major causes of death will be: A) Heart Failure and B) Transportation Accidents. Not a surprising fact, though! One can openly see the predictions coming true with every passing day, and the best way to check the correctness of these facts would be to stand out of any major hospital and count the number of medical cases coming into the hospital, and the reason behind them.
I completely understand the sensations one experiences as a result of the adrenaline rush derived from extreme racing, because in many instances, I myself have taken my car at impossible speeds in the streets of Delhi, but after listening to reports of the worst deaths and accidents due to rash driving and having even watched some people die right before my eyes, I’ve begun to control myself considerably, and suggest the same to my fellow friends, the youth! Not only because I really don’t only want these accidents to happen to any of my fellow mates, but also for the reason that such incidents are too grave to happen to even the fellow human being.
I have always maintained that life is full of surprises, and this sentence is not just a copy of some random movie, but because experience in life was demonstrated me so. One night, I, along with my family, was coming back home from dinner at a restaurant, and we were somewhere near India gate. A Honda city drove in front of us, which was being driven by a young man. And as both the cars were at about 60-70 Kmph, my brother accelerated a little and to pass the car, first using the dipper and then blowing the horn. The driver in front car positioned to the side, and just when my brother was about to pass him that the driver accelerated and changed his lane to us such that we had to apply the brakes to save ourselves from meeting with an accident that would have caused us great bodily harm.
You will be always surprised on the city roads, and in order to avoid them, always maintain your distance from cars around you. My father once said to me, “If one knows and is acquainted with the worst case scenarios of speed driving, and, in spite of this knowledge, continues to drive speedily, then he is still taking a risk of killing himself. Others are already fools, for they are ignorant. The only intelligent one is the one who knows circumstances of speed driving and also drives smartly.” So, my friends — Please follow traffic rules, and even though one might think the speed limit is too low or restrictive, one must realise that these rules are made keeping in mind the safety of each and every person i.e. people inside the vehicle as well as those outside it. In a Hollywood movie known as ‘Redline’ there is a quote, “Good Cars will take you from Point A to Point B, but Great Cars will only create problems for you!”