urgent and imporant

8/6/2019 Urgent and Imporant

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DRIVE SENSIBLY

Important & Urgent!

DrChandrasekhar Pardeshi. MD

[email protected]

We frequently hear some philosophical questions and also their varying answers. One suchquestion we come across is What is the purpose of life? Answers to this question are as many aspersons answering it. Purpose or aim of life varies with individual outlook. Irrespective of variousabstract expressions, to me, the most important and urgentaim of life remains as-

SELF PRESERVATION!If we look at any animal including homo sapience, first and most important instinctive

priority is to save itself physically and keep living till physiological or biological limits. But, we areall aware that death and taxes are only two things that are certain in life. Beyond factor of certainty,timing is also impressively significant. Both have in-built penalty for being untimely. If we dontpay taxes in time, interest, penalty and some times prosecution penalize us. If we die beforebiological time, it just doesnt matter to individual for the benefit of absence of existence. Butdependents and dear ones bear the brunt of our mistake. The clause of penalty remains and is appliedto our family members. I feel dying untimely is deadly crime against dependants and dear ones, as itpenalizes them for no fault of theirs. MOST common cause of premature death among men of 15 to45 years is automobile accident (5). And such deaths can be avoided to great extend. Please be withme while I do some loud thinking.

Oxford dictionary gives meaning of accident as unexpected event. Therefore expectingan

accident is itself a reliable preventive measure. Though this is the solid truth, it is unbelievablesimplification for any innocent adult. Let us therefore move further with subject of fatal motorvehicle accidents. What are causes of accidents? It is surprising to know that human factor isresponsible for 90% of road accident and only 10% are due to environmental factors (1). Therefore,our attitude and we drivers remains major reason for accidents.

I invite you to join me for safe driving tour and do basic relearning.

Motor vehicle is huge mass of steel and other heavy matter, which converts explosive petroleumchemical energy into mechanical one and makes vehicle move. It therefore, gives it giganticmomentum and inertia. Needless to say, it is not trophy or symbol of hierarchical position amongst

peers. With its heightened momentum, its heavy mass is meant to collide with other objects or vehicles in

front, unless saved from it by process called cautiousdriving.

Motor vehicle is potential killer, which if handled properly can transport us to different desireddestination; otherwise to final one.

In India, motor vehicle kill more than 100,000 people annually and maim many times more. Indiahas achieved dubious distinction of being world no 2 in this activity(4). China is no one.

Every 10,000 vehicles in India, kill 14.39 persons annually. The figure For European countries is 1 2.5 (2).

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Social cost of accidents (for families and society) in India is about Rs 55,000 crores. This is about3 % of GDP (4). Imagine Indian economy rising by 3% GDP by avoiding accidents. It can beshattering global shock.

Developing countries loose about $100 billion every year because of accidents. This is twice thedevelopmental aid received by countries together world wide (5).

Since amount of physical pain and moans of victims and emotional trauma to relatives cannot bequantified, I am not able to specify it here.

Fatalities are predictable and preventable. His fault or Not my fault positions are irrelevant. Tragedy of accidents does not consider who

was responsible for accident. Very fact that we were not able to save ourselves from beinginvolved in the accident compels us to suffer.

Lets consider some accident friendly premises and their logical inferences.

Accidents does not happen to me and it has not .Past record is irrelevant for future accidents. Guruji Goenka says, Being aware of situationitself is solution. As stated in beginning, expectingpossibility of accident itself isvaccination against it.

I am special and superior person. People should follow traffic rules and behave themselvesPeople may or may not follow our traffic rules. We are never paid to teach lessons to otherson road; on the contrary we are punished. We are supposed to save ourselves!Ego has no role on road.

I am in hurry, I will just speed up and reach in timeHigher the speed results in lesser is the time for reflex action. It results irritability,irrationality and misjudgments by drivers on the road. It also means more stress andcoronary micro-hemorrhages. It increased risks of accident in geometrical proportion.Chances of accidents rise from 0% to 100% for speed of 20 Km to 100 Km per hour(4). Itis best policy to align to optimum general speed of vehicles in surrounding traffic. Speedabove optimum of the traffic does not save time significantly. Driving fast is not a method

to reach in time, starting in time is. I have great stamina. I can drive even if exhausted

Exhaustion means inability to perceive environmental inputs and lengthened latent periodfor reflexes during driving, jeopardizing our safety. Physiological limits and laws shouldbe respected.

Night driving is cool thing! I can save a day by traveling at nightVisibility, distance orientation, spatial orientation is highly compromised at night foreveryone on the road. Aggressive demand for road resource is on-going game of nightdriving. Lets not join the fatal games. Every night of Delhi kills on average 7.7 drivingpeople (5). Enjoy sleep with spouse at night! Start early in the morning. Dont save a day.Save lives.

? Rs % # $* !

Driving demands total mental acuity. We must provide it totally to it. Mental worries can betacked at home. Keep cell silent. Answer the missed call at leisure.

Seat belts or Helmets are cumbersome not necessary in city.Seat belt is essential even when vehicle is not in motion. Take example of my friend DrGulab Wagh. He stopped on road to have a word with a friend with car in gear and footpressed on clutch. His attention having diverted due to some thing, foot slipped from clutchand car jumped on to pole in front and had knee joint blasted into pieces. Had he had theseat belt on, he could have kept patella intact. Take another example of Dr Subhash Kale

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who was waiting behind herd of buffalo to let truck from opposite side pass. Truck driverbeing in hurry pulled pressure horn pushing buffalo in state of panic. Last buffalo justlifted her fore legs turned behind and landed on head of Subhash. His helmet got dented andscooter arms broken. Had he not had helmet on, tragedy wouldnt have allowed me tonarrate this story to you. Similarly, fatal brain damage on two-wheeler is not function ofspeed. Gentle fall on small spiked stone on temporal bone is enough to take life. Similarly,small pebble on curved road is enough to send one skidding under truck. Lets make

wearing seat belts and helmets as symbol of love to our family and dear ones. Lock the door from inside!

This is one of most mysterious instruction from demons of outer space. But the realproblem is that, we follow it religiously. There is no report of any person being thrown outof car because he had not locked theproperly closed door. Additional lockingproperlypulled doorwhile driving adds to difficulty of retrieval of injured in case of accidents. Thiswastes significantly crucial time for emergency medical help, which can make differencebetween survival and deaths. I have faced this unfortunate added difficulty twice whiletaking out injured people out of car. Please close the door properly and for Gods sake, -DO NOT LOCK DOOR while driving.

Now let us shift our gear to RED ZONE driving.

Overtaking: When you hear about an accident on undivided roads, ask if he was overtaking andanswers most the time are affirmative. Total damaging force,Df of collusion with opposite vehicleis given by -

Df = Mu + Mo.Mu being momentum (mass x velocity) of your vehicle and Mo being momentum of oppositevehicle. Imagine impact of 10-ton truck and 1-ton car together at speed of 60 km on our body offluids, flesh and bones ???Numbers of factors contribute collusion with opposite vehicle while overtaking.

A ) You wait I go policy : Let us drop this attitude. Others may have reasons to be in hurry but

we definitely have reason to be safe. So let them go and internalize prudent attitude -YOU GO I ,.WAIT.B ) I thought Ill pass : Overtaking should not be attempted unless one is EXTREEMLY sure ofcomfortable distance of opposite vehicle. Whenever question props in mind as to whether one willpass; the answer to is always NO and action is always - WAIT.Another fatal mistake is overtaking at blind spots like acute turns, mountains, raised contours ofroad where we are not able to see road in front therefore no question of seeing opposing vehicle.C ) I never thought he will turn right : Never overtake vehicle unless you indicate yourintention. He may already have decided to take right turn or he may be overtaking another vehicle.D ) I had given light : Blinking your headlights for opposite vehicle is no way to get priority ofaccess on road space.

E ) I didnt see it : According to my close friend Jagdhish Ghodke, when driving, think thatany vehicle from any direction including sides, rear, opposite and from nowhere, can hit you. Ifyou want to know how a vehicle comes from nowhere and hits you, meet my friend Dr VivekKakatkar.

Technique of overtaking

It is worth going through technique of overtaking though all of us are aware of it. Overtakingshould be planned only if speed of vehicle to be overtaken is significantly less than our desiredone. It should be attempted only if vehicles coming from opposite direction are so sparse as to

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allow the operation. Alterative to be behind similarly speeding vehicle gives us advantage ofhaving pilot car, which takes all the brunt of eventualities and protects us.Operation overtakingneeds to be well-planned, cautious, smooth and swift and with knowledge ofevery vehicle in vicinity. If overtaking is decided -1 Keep sufficient distance from vehicle to be overtaken.2 Check if vehicle behind is not planning to overtake you.3 Go to the lane of overtaking.

4 Check for approaching vehicle from opposite direction.5 Check opposite vehicle is not being overtaken by another vehicle.6 Check that vehicle in front is itself not overtaking or turning or changing lane.7 Give signal and take consent (may be implied).8 Check proper gear.9 Take speed.10 Give horn while actually crossing. 11 Pass and stabilize at comfortable distance away from overtaken vehicle.12 Congratulate yourself every time for successful operation of this crucial part of driving. Ifone specializes in this 12 step operative technique one can avoid almost 80% of fatal accidents (myown opinion).

Crossings, Turns and change of lane: Right turn must be well-planed and sufficient indicationgiven for vehicles in every direction. Indication by hand is essential, as electrical bulbs may not benoted in daytime. We need to be accustomed to new attitude of people overtaking from our leftside.

Dead truck: Stranded trucks parked on road at night without tail lamps or any indication are manytimes responsible for full speed collusion by unsuspecting drivers and severe casualties. Theimpact of force of a collision at 50 km/h is the equivalent to the vehicle falling from a 3-storybuilding, but at double the speed, 100 km/h, it is as if the vehicle dropped from a 12-story building.Tests have shown that in a 60-km/h collision, a 15-kilogram child (the approximate weight of a 3year old) produces the equivalent force of 550 kilograms. Only way to avoid this silent killer is tosuspect all the time in night and be aware of it. It would be prudent not to drive on road where

visibility is compromised. Even better way is not to be there at night. Long journey: Longer the journey more is driving hours leading to exhaustion, stress and accident.

Scientific study and records indicates that for you and me individual annual chance of death intravel is 0.00144 (deduced from ref 3). Dr Kihore Gangurde suggests to consider this definite travelrisk before undertaking casual journey like attending social functions or religious sojourns. Hethinks for longer distances safe public transport like rail is always preferred. I propose that journeyby car should be limited to 200 km and by two-wheeler to 20 km of one-way travel.

Unknown driver Remember as stated before drivers in general are responsible for 91 % ofaccidents (1 & 4). Imagine handing over charge of our existence to man whose credential areunknown. It is not uncommon to learn latter that the casual driver you hired was suffering fromepilepsy, drug addiction, withdrawal symptoms or exhaustion or simply unfit to be behind steering

or may be fit to be behind bar. Driver hired must be known, dependable, responsible and careful.The best driver who has all the desired qualities and is also educated and concerned aboutpassengers and is always available is YOU! Dont give way right your life to any casual driver.

Other factors like Dogs, Animal (including human) can suddenly be middle of road in front of youand are responsible for 6.8% of accidents (4). We need to aware of these surprises in driving

New car, new young driver, and neo riches none of these things should invite new life.

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Internalization

Fortunately we all know the facts stated above, yet unfortunately, we all do same mistakes againand again. Why? The answer lies in fact that traveling is domain of cortex, while driving is reflexfunction of sub cortical centers. Therefore what we think rational may not always be reflected in ourdriving actions. Then is it the dead end? Fortunately NO! We can internalize the safe driving habits togreat extent. Remaining aware of possibility all the time; discussion of safe manners and measures

with family members specially when we do mistakes, reminders by other members of family aboutfollowing safety precautions like wearing seat belts and our discussions amongst us will greatly reducechances of fatalities. Opening doors of imagination of actual accident happening and consequentinjuries and physical sufferings can be effective guiding force for safety.

When we face poor roads conditions, hostile traffic and unruly divers competing for scarce roadresource - our basic premise must be very clear. We must realize that whole world in which we liveFUNCTIONS CORRECTLY, because it is supposed to be the way it should be after innumerablepermutation and combination of past millions of years. It is we who have to adjust to it. Similarlytraffic conditions are going to be the way it is. It is we who have to save ourselves. Wrong and right issubjective and that too relative issues. If we internalize this principle, there are less chances of conflictof ego and aggressive approach on road.

We pass on lot of knowledge to our progeny. We teach them how to score in exams, how nottobehave in society, how deal with (cheat?) clients, how to create heap of wealth but we forget to teachthem survival techniques to enjoy the fruits all the toil. We are indifferent to this important topic ofdriving, which is questions survival at every movement of driving life. We must inculcate safe drivingphilosophy in our hostile traffic environment.

I must warn you here that I have opined only on fatal automobile accidents. I have not touched vastareas of anatomy of accidents or topic of safe driving. Some of the information about these issues isavailable at web sites given at end.

"Carriages without horses shall go,

And accidents fill the world with woe."

-Mother Shipton (circa. 1530)Luxury of living

In spite of the prediction five centuries before and present gloomy state, driving a car can be treat oflife. You will realize that mightiest kings and wealthiest statesmen, generations before could not enjoyluxury and charm of our vehicles. Car has changed torture of travel into luxury of life. Imagine a cardrive on rainy day with water falls and lush green mountains around and soft classical music on withyour family or friends in Trimbak valley. The comfort, warmth and protection a car can gives you istriumph of technology of todays science. All this luxury and love of family is ours, as long as weremain aware of what is important and urgent! So lets enjoy the drive and vow not be lost to ourdependents and dear ones!

Happy driving!

References1 : Treat et al., 19772 : Central Institute of road transport ( CIRT), latest Indian journal of Transport management3 : Department of road transport and highway4 : Report of Alok Rawat, Principal secretary, Sikkim.5 : WHO study

http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/roadaccidents.html

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