That the Shillong roads are choc-a-bloc at any time of the day or night except past midnight is a fait accompli that citizens have learnt to live with. But speeding in the narrow roads of the city especially around areas where schools and colleges are all concentrated is to look danger in the face. The accident near Don Bosco Technical School where a speeding two-wheeler hit a school boy is an example of dangerous driving. Besides there are several hit and run cases too. Two wheelers in Shillong city don’t follow lane driving. They criss-cross trying to make their way through narrow spaces between two vehicles. They often come without warning from side roads and put other drivers at risk. With the number of two-wheelers at an all- time high in Shillong many more accidents at vulnerable areas such as Don Bosco and Dhankheti where crossing the road are expected. These places are a nightmare.
Even late at night, speeding vehicles can cause danger to other drivers and pedestrians. Often the drivers are drunk and swerve any way they want. Since traffic policing ends by a certain hour, drunken drivers get away with rash driving and endanger other peoples’ lives every single day. In other cities, people who have taken a few drinks at a party can call an Uber/Ola and get dropped home. Such facilities are not available in Shillong hence drunken driving is a common phenomenon. But that aside, it is two-wheeler drivers who are causing the largest number of accidents today.
The idiom, “Speed thrills but kills” is appropriate for what’s happening in Shillong today. With everyone in a rush and jostling for space in the narrow Shillong roads, are we looking at many more accidents since very few drivers are booked for speeding. There Meghalaya Traffic Police have a long list of do’s and don’ts for drivers and there are fines for first offence and repeated offences. For instance, the fine for over-speeding is Rs 250 and for subsequent offences Rs 1000; for driving without license for minors is Rs 1000 for first and subsequent offence and dangerous driving is also Rs 1000 on both counts. The problem is that there is no satellite monitoring for speeding where a driver can be penalised. As of today it’s only when a traffic police personnel catches someone speeding at a point on the road where the traffic policeman/woman is on duty that some action can be taken. But the fine being minimal, a repeat of the crime is inevitable. In Shillong today there are several minors that are behind the wheels and parents seem to encourage that. It angers people who see this licentiousness on the road but if a traffic police personnel ignores that lawless behaviour there is little that citizens can do. It is time to come up with more stringent laws against dangerous driving.
