Anti-speeding drives are need of the hour

The smashed-up car in which the six friends were travelling. Pic/Rajesh Gupta

A Sunday outing in Vashi ended disastrously for six friends when their speeding car flipped multiple times and collided with a truck. Three people died instantly, and the others were seriously injured.

The RCF police have registered an FIR against the driver for rash driving. According to the police, the friends had gathered at around 11 am at Vashi Naka and decided to go on a picnic in the Gavanpada and Navi Mumbai areas. The driver lost control of the car which flipped at least 10 times before hitting a truck.

This brings home once again that speed kills. Never mind if it is a Sunday and the roads seem relatively empty. Keep within the speed limit as it is there for a reason.

There is also a tendency to throw caution to the wind when one is headed on picnics or some sort of getaway. There is some kind of thrill or fun in gunning the accelerator from the word go when the trip begins. But there can be no greater danger than this and driving, or even riding riskily, is certainly no fun.

While one does not know what happened in the car. If there were six occupants, those who were not driving could have cautioned the driver not to go so fast. Maybe, they had; one does not know as yet. One of them, if they had a licence and knew how to drive could have taken the wheel and steered the car slower and much more safely to and from the destination.

We need a real push against speeding, with lessons taught at the school level itself. More hoardings, advertisements and campaigns from authorities can drive home the point. The real heroes should be the ones who drive responsibly and the ‘glamourous' aspect of speeding should be deflated in our movies, social media or elsewhere. Speed does not thrill, it kills. That is the simple, potent message that must be sent repeatedly and powerfully.