Road accidents kill more than a million people in India every year, several fold more than AIDS does, yet funds deployed by the state or NGOs is not even a fraction of what’s deployed for the ‘designer’ disease.
Yesterday, a bus simply fell off from a flyover onto a railway line below at Calcutta’s main railway station. The reason, the driver of the bus was overtaking its competitor bus, so that he could collect more passengers. 12 people died on the spot, and a score other would be maimed for life. The errant driver who is critically injured would be allowed to recover, and then arrested and maybe punished for reckless driving.
Punishments in a civil society are not meant for taking a revenge but for others to take example from, and let the ‘rule of law’ prevail. If they do not serve that purpose, there is something fundamentally wrong with the cause (the system) rather than the effect (the punishment).
Rule of law is very different from Rule by law; the latter requires a constant physical monitoring, punishments, fines, penalties, and reactive work by the law enforcement agencies. For Rule of Law to prevail, a system is required that creates effective deterrence from breaking the law in the first place. That is why all over you can see signs that Traffic cameras are posted (whether actually or not), so that errant drivers are deterred. The system ensures that an errant drivers’ pictures are taken, license is inflicted with points and consequently his insurance premium goes up. That’s what insurance is all about; higher the risk, higher the premium. The all equal insurance premium rates in India must be shunned.
Errant drivers jump traffic lights at will. Apart from insurance charging them from risk premium, the Indian Penal code should come into picture here, taking it to a level higher than ordinary traffic violation. Two-wheelers, (including cyclists) violating a traffic light should be charged with ‘attempt to suicide’ while 4 wheelers and heavy vehicles should be charged with ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’. What else is it to jump a red light?