Adelmo Fernandes
Over the past few months the state has witnessed several road accidents, many of them ending in fatality. There are various factors that contribute to road accidents. It is true that the road infrastructure in the state is not able to cope with the increasing number of vehicles. There is no point in blaming the authorities after a fatal road accident. Hence it is necessary to exercise extreme caution while driving or riding a vehicle. Incidentally several fatal road accidents involve victims being run over by heavy vehicles. Such accidents were rare and even unheard of in the years gone by.
The reason for such fatal road accidents now is the tremendous increase in the number of heavy vehicles on the roads including trucks, tankers, buses, trailers, etc. Now, one even sees huge concrete mixers moving on the roads. In the past if a person on a two-wheeler had a fall, the victim would probably end up with minor injuries or some fractures. But now if a rider or a pillion rider has a fall from a two-wheeler the chances of being run over by a heavy vehicle has increased manifold due to the increase in the number of such heavy vehicles on the roads.
One of the reasons for accidents is head-on collisions while overtaking. Hence overtaking becomes an important matter, specially, for a two-wheeler rider. Here judgement on the part of the rider plays an important role. There are several precautionary measures that need to be taken into account while overtaking. Of course it is absolutely wrong and against the rules to overtake from the wrong side.
Overtaking a heavy vehicle, specially a double-axle luxury bus or a trailer, can be a tricky proposition as it takes more time to overtake such vehicles, due to its length, than overtaking a car. The speed of the vehicle being overtaken also needs to be taken into consideration. A two-wheeler rider should not overtake if there is a speed-breaker in front as the rider will have to slow down or he/she may even lose balance. A wrong judgment while overtaking could be a matter of life and death.
