Nagaland: Rash driving behind rise in road fatalities

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Nov. 7 (EMN): While the four-lane highway connecting Dimapur and Kohima represents the realisation of a long-held dream, the development has come attached with a spate of road accidents recently.

In the past few days alone, there have been reports of at least three deaths related to road accidents.

The deputy commissioner of police (Traffic), Dimapur, Jatila Jamir, told Eastern Mirror that one of the reasons for the accidents is the ‘behaviour of the drivers and the people who are impatient’.

“Drivers driving in the wrong lane and also the over-speeding drivers are causing accidents mostly right now,” she said, referring to the recent accidents in Dimapur.

On October 31, a woman was killed after the vehicle she was travelling in, a Mahindra Bolero, collided with a truck that was driving on the wrong lane; one person riding a two-wheeler, without wearing helmet, was killed on November 1 after hitting a four-lane road divider.

Again on November 5, a pedestrian was killed after being hit by a speeding car while crossing the road.

Jamir shared that the road is still under construction and not yet handed over to the police administration, ‘which is why things like installing traffic points or automated systems cannot be done till the completion of roads’.

“Police points cannot be installed and these are the difficulties that we are also facing right now,” she said.

Jamir mentioned that they are trying to create awareness by distributing booklets and also through ‘films on traffic awareness,’ which are under process.

She said that, at the moment, it is simply about raising awareness as they are not in a position to install anything (safety measures).

“Police are on the road side but there are no traffic islands from where they can control the traffic, and this might take some time,” she added.

According to the officer, ‘four-lane roads are new to us and we should not be impatient but get used to it’.

‘Lack discipline’

Pointing out that ‘we like to talk about development and good roads,’ Vitono Haralu, a trainer and consultant at Peace Channel, wondered ‘if we are, in turn, disciplined and ready for such development’.

“We have to learn how to discipline ourselves, and basically, we need to have civic sense and at the same time be sensitive to others,” she said.

She shared that ‘we cannot have traffic police everywhere because that will show we are irresponsible citizens’.

Traffic police should be in designated areas but at the same time a citizen of the state should abide by the laws and know the traffic rules of driving in four-lane roads, she said.

According to her, the state needs to do more awareness programmes in different dialects because “English does not work for everybody”, and therefore the state will have to come up with multi-language awareness campaigns in different forms to educate and sensitise people about road safety”.

“A lot of people have cars and bikes but they do not follow the traffic rules, and they do not know how to use their car signal,” she said.

Haralu said that with the introduction of four-lane highway, there have been a lot of hit-and-run cases and incidents of vehicles colliding because ‘we are not being mindful’.

Tapanjit Sinha, an educationist, also shared that ‘we should not impose burden and responsibility only on the administrative authorities’ but the citizens should respect the traffic rules by following stipulated guidelines.

“Actually, the damage is done to the citizens themselves and therefore they should learn to take care, and particularly those citizens with vehicles, they should take initiative that no harm is done to their body or their property,” he said.

With regard to road accidents, he was of the view that alcohol cannot be banned but there should be enforcing authorities to strictly check that drivers are not driving under the influence of intoxicating substances.

Further, Sinha suggested constructing flyovers across the entire length from Purana Bazaar to Chümoukedima after every 500 metre.