Making light of it

New traffic technologies will keep an eye on those errant drivers. But will Delhi drivers ever change?

A laser detection system will catch you very shortly if you are not obeying road rules. Well, it will come into existence in a month or so, so do feel free to race around the roads and misbehave as you have always done. Things have come to such a pass that we now have Bollywood’s Vivek Oberoi giving us tips on how to behave. He apparently went about strapping helmets on people and told women that they should, absolutely should, wear helmets. Did we need the strapping Mr Oberoi to tell us this?

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As a nation, we are so sadly lacking in any form of road, rail or any other form of transport safety measure. How many of you have been to a railway station only to be pushed, shoved and bullied into a compartment which, incidentally, you have paid for in advance? Taking a bus is only for the most foolhardy or extremely brave. And for those of us who use a car to transport ourselves, we are uniformly confronted with the bigger car and the nastiest drivers who invariably ask us: “Do you know who we are?” Being no one whom any one whose name can be quoted in the highest quarters, we end up the worse for the wear. But anyway, it would appear that Mr Oberoi is a bike enthusiast and has given us this piece of advice: “Law should be changed in Delhi and wearing helmets should be mandatory for women bikers too.” In Mumbai, which does not have such good roads, people are not prone to break the law, he says.