Learn road manners, PM tells country

Manmohan has advocated a reform no political party is likely to oppose. He wants people to be more caring and respectful to each other while on the road.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has advocated a reform no political party is likely to oppose. He wants people to be more caring and respectful to each other while on the road.

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“I think we must ask ourselves why can’t we be more polite to each other, more caring to each other, more respectful to each other. Building modern roads and driving modern cars is not the end all and be all of progress. Good road manners and adherence to road discipline are equally important,” the Prime Minister said.

“People must learn road manners. How to give way to pedestrians, how to observe normal rules while overtaking, how to park and when not to blow a horn. These are simple rules but their observance makes a lot of difference to our daily lives,” Singh added.

The Prime Minister was also concerned about the country’s poor record in terms of highway safety. “Nearly one lakh people are getting killed in road accidents every year. We have to reverse this trend. We have to make road safety awareness, both in urban areas and on national highways, a major national campaign,” the PM said while unveiling the foundation stone for a 10-km elevated toll expressway to link the Karnataka capital with the Electronics City campus, home to more than 800 info tech companies.

Singh wondered why Indians lose their manners on the road. “We Indians behave with great courtesy at home, with our family and friends. But, sometimes, when we go out we leave these good manners at home. Why should this be so?” was his lament.

The PM compared the ongoing road revolution (development of road networks) with the green revolution and the white revolution.