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Talking While Driving: Indians Favorite, Deadly Habit

Talking While Driving: Indians Favorite, Deadly Habit

The Delhi Traffic Police issues over 17,700 traffic challans daily but less than a quarter of a per cent of those are for talking on the mobile phone. This is a truly shocking statistic given that on any given day, if you are on the roads of Delhi, you will notice hundreds of people talking on the mobile phones while driving. And this is not restricted to car drivers, even those driving heavy commercial vehicles, buses, two-wheelers, rickshaws, cycle rickshaws and even cyclists talk over the phone while driving. The mobile phone revolution in India might have put a phone in every hand but it has also made Indian roads extremely dangerous. According to one survey, 47 per cent of drivers in Delhi admitted to talking on the phone while driving. Be assured that a majority of the remaining 53 per cent are liars. A joke that does the rounds among some in the industry is that Indians will evolve bent necks as two-wheeler riders chat on the phone while riding a motorcycle. Unsurprisingly, statistics have emerged that mobile phones played a role in almost 20 per cent of road accidents.

Apart from the fact that driving or riding is a two-handed activity, where both hands ought to be steering, the fact is that talking on the mobile phone is a very distracting activity. In fact, some studies in the United States have shown that if a mobile conversation distracts you, it can be more dangerous than driving over the alcohol limit. Imagine driving while arguing with your spouse; most human beings are unable to disassociate the act of driving from the anger they feel towards their spouse and as a result drive very poorly. And while new technologies such as CarPlay from Apple and Android Auto from Google have enabled high-tech Artificial Intelligence assistance in cars via smartphones, they do not take away the distraction, even if some of them now feature the ability to receive and send messages. While hands-free technology may not be a solution, it does not subtract from the fact that hand-held calls while driving or riding are dangerous. India’s roads are already the deadliest in the world with over 150,000 people dying annually. Talking on your mobile phones is making it even more dangerous. And while the traffic police force, even in cities like Delhi, is very stretched, it must start cracking down on those who think the road is a great place for a chat through CCTVs and tech-enabled means.

Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer

Talking While Driving: Indians Favorite, Deadly Habit

Talking While Driving: Indians Favorite, Deadly Habit

The Delhi Traffic Police issues over 17,700 traffic challans daily but less than a quarter of a per cent of those are for talking on the mobile phone. This is a truly shocking statistic given that on any given day, if you are on the roads of Delhi, you will notice hundreds of people talking on the mobile phones while driving. And this is not restricted to car drivers, even those driving heavy commercial vehicles, buses, two-wheelers, rickshaws, cycle rickshaws and even cyclists talk over the phone while driving. The mobile phone revolution in India might have put a phone in every hand but it has also made Indian roads extremely dangerous. According to one survey, 47 per cent of drivers in Delhi admitted to talking on the phone while driving. Be assured that a majority of the remaining 53 per cent are liars. A joke that does the rounds among some in the industry is that Indians will evolve bent necks as two-wheeler riders chat on the phone while riding a motorcycle. Unsurprisingly, statistics have emerged that mobile phones played a role in almost 20 per cent of road accidents.

Apart from the fact that driving or riding is a two-handed activity, where both hands ought to be steering, the fact is that talking on the mobile phone is a very distracting activity. In fact, some studies in the United States have shown that if a mobile conversation distracts you, it can be more dangerous than driving over the alcohol limit. Imagine driving while arguing with your spouse; most human beings are unable to disassociate the act of driving from the anger they feel towards their spouse and as a result drive very poorly. And while new technologies such as CarPlay from Apple and Android Auto from Google have enabled high-tech Artificial Intelligence assistance in cars via smartphones, they do not take away the distraction, even if some of them now feature the ability to receive and send messages. While hands-free technology may not be a solution, it does not subtract from the fact that hand-held calls while driving or riding are dangerous. India’s roads are already the deadliest in the world with over 150,000 people dying annually. Talking on your mobile phones is making it even more dangerous. And while the traffic police force, even in cities like Delhi, is very stretched, it must start cracking down on those who think the road is a great place for a chat through CCTVs and tech-enabled means.

Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer

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