Thursday, 04 May 2023 | Mansi Bhambri | DEHRADUN
The recent incident involving State cabinet minister, Prem Chand Agarwal in which he is seen engaging in a fist fight with a man on a road congested with traffic in Rishikesh town has highlighted the issue of road rage in the State.
The cases of road rage are continuing to increase with the increasing traffic on the roads. The experts opine that extreme weather conditions, overcrowded roads, aggression, lack of traffic sense and absence of a strong mechanism under which the offenders are brought to book are the major reasons for spurt in road rage cases.
With the traffic situation only going from bad to worse, the road rage cases are bound to increase in future. Commenting on the increase of road rage in the state, the founder of Social Development for Communities (SDC) foundation Anoop Nautiyal said, “Traffic is the growing challenge of traffic management on the road which increases the cases of road rage. The mismanagement of traffic is affecting the mental health of commuters. This is resulting in large numbers of road rage incidents across the state of Uttrakhand.”
He further said that the road rage problem is exacerbated during a tourist and holiday season. Unfortunately, these cases will continue to rise till the time suitable measures are taken to ensure the traffic flows smoothly in the state capital. Road rage is completely a dangerous trend and disturbing the tranquility of Uttrakhand and its peace loving people, he added.
Lack of patience among people, is another major cause of increasing road rage cases in the state. Noted orthopedic surgeon, Dr BKS Sanjay said, “Anger, aggression and lack of patience among the commuters are manifested in increasing road rage. Teenagers especially are the ones who were displaying their anger and frustration openly on the road. Overbearing personality, lack of tolerance and absence of discipline in the people are the reasons for increasing road rage. Therefore to stop or control road rage, people must have patience and know how to deal with their aggression. Road accidents are also a result of the impatient nature of people. To overcome this, people must go for a good counselling session and make yoga a regular routine.”
Interacting with The Pioneer, the academician, Dr Sargam Mehra said, “Yes one clearly sees a spurt in the cases of road rage in the state. The university and school students are also involved in the cases of road rage. The new drivers and the university students are not aware of the driving rules and thus result in rage on the roads. Traffic mismanagement is another reason for road rage. Therefore to overcome the cases of road rage, traffic police must conduct some workshops or counselling sessions in the universities and schools considering road rage.”
