Ramya was run over by a drunk 20-year-old: What Hyderabad owes her
Road accidents do not make news. Unless of course, they involve a VIP.
But blood spills on roads in India all the time. Cold statistics indicate that close to 1.5 lakh people die every year on our roads. Not surprising because we as a nation do not follow traffic rules, we overspeed, we drink and drive, road engineering is an alien concept to most of our cities and "my dad owns the road" attitude reigns among most motorists.
That is why Hyderabad lost Ramya.
On July 1, nine-year-old Ramya was returning home after her first day in her new school. The joy of sharing what happened in school, about her new friends, new uniform, new school bag was shattered in a matter of seconds.
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| Ramya was kept on the ventilator for a week before she could fight no more. |
A speeding car, driven by a 20-year-old engineering student, who was drunk and had no driving licence, from the opposite direction lost control, jumped over the divider and landed on the car in which Ramya was travelling.
Her 35-year-old uncle who was driving, died on the spot. Ramya was kept on the ventilator for a week before she could fight no more. Her grandfather who had undergone multiple surgeries and developed complications, died this morning.
Her mother has undergone a surgery in her leg and another uncle who too was in the car, cannot walk.
Hyderabad owes it to Ramya that it will change because it has the blood of three law-abiding citizens on its hands.
The tragedy occurred because everyone did not do the right thing. All the six boys in the car were drunk. They were all below 20, and the pub should not have served them liquor as they were below the legally permitted age for drinking.
The parents of the boy (not the boy who was driving) ought not to have given the car to their son. There were no traffic cops checking on unlicensed drivers or drunken driving, during the day.
The curve where the car lost control is a pathetic example of road engineering because it narrows down at this part and cars cannot go beyond 30kmph. The drunk youth at the wheel was speeding at 70kmph.
It is not as if the Hyderabad Police is unaware of the city's roads being a death trap. In the last 18 months, 600 minors were caught driving in an inebriated state.
Now faced with a public outcry, the cops have tightened the screws. On day one of their drive last week to check drunken driving in the day, the cops caught 108 motorists inebriated in just two zones of Hyderabad.
A couple of days later, in just one zone of Hyderabad, 269 minors were caught driving. All of them were sent for compulsory counselling, with parents of minors coming in for a dose as well.
The excise department has been roped in as well. It started by issuing notices to the pub that had served liquor to the six underage youth. All watering holes in the city have been told to serve liquor only after checking the age of the consumer. There is also a proposal to designate one person in a group as the driver and ensure he does not drink.
While Shravil, the boy who was driving the car is in prison, with his bail petition rejected by the court, his five friends have been suspended from their college. The police want to make an example of the Ramya tragedy but will this last?
Drunken driving and minor driving contribute to making India's roads very unsafe. So far, offenders have been made to stand at traffic junctions holding placards that said "Don't drink and drive" and "Your family is waiting for you at home".
Some of them have been made to do community service at hospitals in Hyderabad. While the punishment has embarrassed them, the cops intend to make it tough for anyone who commits an accident under the influence of alcohol, to get a passport or visa.
The transport department, on its part, is trying to make it easier for Hyderabadis to be better citizens on the road.
If you thought going to the road transport authority was a frustrating, time-consuming experience, the government says they will now make it easier for you to get your licence, renew your permit and make every such transaction easier and less cumbersome, as all services are being moved to an online platform.
So, scope for corruption is minimised and no one will have red tape as an excuse to not complete legal formalities for their vehicles and for themselves as safe drivers.
Promising a smooth and safe ride on Hyderabad's roads is something the city owes to Ramya and all the others for whom life became a road less travelled.