Day by day, the concept of patience is vast vanishing, be it at home or on the street or in market places, etc. and one might go to whichever city or town in India, the absence of patience and prevalence of discomfort particularly in traffic signals is more rampant in our country than anywhere else in the world. Drivers of vehicles will wait patiently for long with no other option during red light and once the signal becomes green, a sort of great impatience crops up when repeated honking from behind is heard even if one’s vehicle gets delayed in starting even by fraction of a second. Nowadays, due to ‘Red light on, Engine Off’ slogan, many people switch off their engine during traffic signals and rightly so in order to save on fuel and help in reducing pollution level, but there are some impatient lots behind, who do not understand the same and keep honking even if there is little delay in driving ahead the vehicle once traffic signal becomes green.
The phenomenon of ‘Red light on, Engine off’ is a good one indeed, in the sense that there are lakhs of vehicles plying on Delhi roads and it makes sense that one put off the vehicle’s engine during traffic signal being red which saves not only on one’s fuel consumption but even helps in one’s savings owing to sky-rocketing prices of fuel nowadays as also help in reduction of pollution to a much greater level and which is what is also the aim of such step undertaken by the authorities. It is rather strange that during heavy traffic or resultant traffic jam or due to some VIP movement or long red signals, one will wait patiently but the moment, the traffic light is green, some kind of a monster enters the grey matters of drivers making them behave in a crazy manner by honking continuously. Once the traffic signal is green, the cars behind pass-by as if they are on some racing events like Formula One Indian Grand Prix or the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix or the Daytona 500 racing car event.
It seems the patience level is almost reduced to zero nowadays amongst the drivers of vehicles, be it commercial car drivers or private car owners or for that matter any kind of vehicles. One needs to apply common sense that even if one drives too fast from one traffic signal there are high chances that they might meet the same slow drivers in the next signal, then what is the purpose of racing their vehicles from one traffic light to another? In many of the traffic signals when red light is On, it is clearly written ‘relax’, but where is that relaxing part, instead the drivers of vehicles are more charged during such signals than taking the traffic signals in a relaxing manner. One needs to respect the signals, after all one needs to give time for the other three traffic plying on other directions as well in a normal crossing. There is almost growing impatience among the drivers of vehicles particularly in big cities and metropolitans, be it a cab driver or a private owner of a vehicle. What is the purpose of honking one’s own vehicle when it leads only to noise pollution, downing of one’s own vehicle’s battery and more importantly, when it reflects on one’s own irritation or frustration level which becomes rather public. No one bothers for other’s honking and it may be mentioned that no one on the road is there just for relaxing or time pass and everyone is going somewhere just on some purpose.
This point needs to be understood by one and all. Neither anyone will intentionally delay the other nor does it really serve any purpose, when no one knows another in a traffic. Similar is the sense of impatience found among most of the two wheeler riders. They just make their way between vehicles and many a times even hit the other car leading to dent or scratch and resultant scuffle. If they do not find way between the cars, they just ride over the pedestrian platform. This kind of behaviour cannot be found in any other countries. Haste makes waste. If this point is understood by one and all, the better for society and once this is understood, then our country can also become horn-free like many other advanced countries where one seldom hears the sound of a vehicle honking.
This honking phenomenon is rather irritating to say the least and it only increases one’s blood pressure and irritation level than it does any good for any side of the party driving on roads. So, it is high time a thought is given to this so-called small issue but which has rather larger implications, calling on not only one’s health issue but even leads to unnecessary and avoidable scuffle. Come summer months and as the day time temperature shoots up, so does we see enormous increase in number of cases of road rage every year. It is time we give some thought to this burning issue.
