By Mayank Jain:
A doctor was waiting with his 3-year-old daughter for her school bus which was about to arrive on the Sohna Road, Gurgaon, when they both were run over by a Haryana Roadways bus.
The victims were Dr. Pankaj Gupta who worked at the super speciality Medanta Medcity in Gurgaon, and his daughter. Dr. Gupta died on the spot while his daughter succumbed to injuries in the hospital. The driver had already hit an electric pole before running over them, but nobody was injured from that previous collision. The tragic incident happened in April but road deaths haven’t stopped. India loses 20 children of less than 14 years of age to road accidents every day, and it is partly because 97% of the Indian roads do not have footpaths.
Jyoti Gupta, mother of the 3-year-old girl who became a victim to road menace because of the lack of stringent laws, has started a petition with Save Life Foundation on change.org, demanding road safety laws to be introduced in the Parliament. It is to be noted that the recent death of Rural Development Minister, Gopinath Munde has again fired the debate about road safety in India. He was travelling towards the airport when an Indica hit his car and he lost his life.
India leads in the world for number of deaths caused by road accidents and the situation needs to be corrected soon. As indicated in the petition, the only law that governs road safety in India is the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The act has not proved effective and even the amendment proposed in 2012 does not seem to help the current situation.
This petition to the Prime Minister of India demands for a new law that includes protection for children, pedestrians and cyclists during commute. It should make road safety education mandatory and result in increased enforcement of the law with a transparent process for getting driver’s license.
It has already been too late to ensure a safe road transport system in the country and we shouldn’t wait for any more deaths to fight for a better law that keeps pedestrians and children safe on the road. You can sign the petition here.