If there is a common guide on how to avoid accidents, clearly our cab drivers in India didn’t go through the whole guide. Let’s paint a common picture of your cab riding experience. You called your cab driver more than 2 times to navigate him to the pick-up point. Seriously, why are maps there if I have to still verbally navigate my driver, “Bhaiya, left nahi right turn lijiye”.
Anyways you board the cab and instead of soothing background music, you sit like a meek spectator to your cabbie’s phone conversations. You don’t want to be the next case study on how to avoid road accidents, so, what do you do? You stuff those earphones back in your bag and start paying attention to the road. Because somebody has to be sensible and the cab driver is clearly not the one today. What a great ride sharing experience it’s going to be, you start wondering.
This is no stereotyping, this is the reality.
Wonder what your cab driver is talking? Because most of the times these conversations are in regional dialects, so, you have no clue if it’s about you or the weather or himself. It just never seems to get over. There is nothing wrong in having someone to talk to especially when traffic is part of your job description. But how much is too much? And will that conversation come handy in how to avoid road accidents manual? Talking on the phone is one of the major reasons for road accidents. Still, either there is too much confidence or these drivers have a sly deal with the grim reaper.
Apart from annoying, is it really safe for your cab driver to be on the phone all the time? Even if your motor senses are on par yet you’re on the road. Do not use phones while driving to avoid accidents. How hard is it to follow?
Road Accidents due to cab driver’s negligence
Citizens using cab services are also in the favor of more stricter rules if not a similar ban on app-based cab drivers. Most times, we as cab users feel a little hesitant in complaining about the driver’s phones used during the ride. “I’ll get off soon, why call for unnecessary trouble” but this unnecessary trouble might come useful in avoiding an accident.
Cellphones have been compelling reasons for accidents. According to the National Safety Council, using phones while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes annually. The use of mobile phones while driving claimed 2,138 lives in 2016 in India alone. Usage of phones should be stopped and continuous chit-chatting on phones by cab drivers need to be controlled in order to avoid road accidents.
If all this while you have been wondering that none of the cab drivers ever got involved in a road accident due to his phone habits, then think again. Maybe this time he avoided the road accident but what about tomorrow? Considering that Indians already drive like maniacs on the road.
Phones, Inevitable Reason for Road accidents – A case in the picture
A cab driver preoccupied on his phone smashed into another car which was on its way to an emergency hospital. Tejaswi Uthappa, who was driving at a Hebbal junction, said, “While I was maintaining my lane and was on the left, the cab driver continued driving towards me. I saw him, looking elsewhere, talking on the phone. He drove in my lane unknowingly. People shouted for his attention, but he rammed into my vehicle.”
This cab driver would have easily avoided this road accident, had he not been using his phone. When on the road, your mind and body should be fully attentive to what you’re looking and hearing in the surroundings. There is no rocket science here and neither an answer printed in black and white on ‘how to avoid accidents’. A little caution and a lot of civic sense – that’s all.
Rajkumar Dugar another resident recently shared his observation with the tabloids, “I was once slowly driving behind behind a cab trying to get a pass from him. Seeing this cab on the road, my first thought was that the driver is drunk. But when I overtook him, I saw him on the phone with just one hand on the steering wheel.”
Often these cab drivers either ignore the plights of fellow vehicles on the road or at the most will park their cars in bus bays. Well, creating havoc there too by blocking the path of buses. If this is their approach towards avoiding road accidents, then, certainly not a good approach. Something that cost other people their time or safety can never be a solution.
Will banning Mobile Phones while Driving help?
Nobody wants to risk their safety, then, why should we? As a customer of these major cab aggregators, we are already paying hefty amounts of fare. In return, we expect 100% professionalism which can only be attained only if these companies take their phone policy strictly. As a customer, we should be the last person urging cab companies to ban phones citing these being major reasons for road accidents.
Bengaluru Traffic Police has claimed to have registered as many as 31,532 cases of mobile use while driving in 2018.
A ban will be ideal, but is it feasible? Considering that the entire cab hailing business is dependent on smartphones. However, as a step towards avoiding accidents on the road, use of personal can be banned or at least limited to stationary cars.
Your Safety with Carpool and Bikepool
Carpool and bike pool does not include the services of cab drivers but the owners of the vehicles. These users have been driving and are not new to road rules which means they know and follow all traffic rules in order to avoid road accidents.
Quick Ride, a bike pool and carpooling app launched in September 2015, connects people traveling in the same direction in real time. Users can schedule their rides immediately for an immediate ride. Even in advance, the app allows the freedom to schedule future rides. The users of the carpool and bike pool app are provided with the ride’s real-time location and the ride participants’ status on the live map.
Also, the verified user platform enables riders to check their co-passengers professional as well as personal information. This creates a sense of mutual trust. While driving with professionals like you in Quick Ride, it has been observed that people are more diligent on the road. As here you are not hidden behind the badge of a multinational company like Uber and OLA. Rather, you have to gain the trust of your co-passengers by driving carefully and avoiding every single chance of a road accident.
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