It was not just the tree that killed Pavit Singh

On the evening/night of 2nd May 2010, an accident took place at 3rd Avenue Besant Nagar. The stretch of the road is also referred to as the Besant Avenue. The accident spot is just off the curve around the Besant Scout Camp, when you travelling from Adyar towards Besant Nagar.

The accident was quite gruesome and involved a car crashing into a tree. The driver of the car, Pavit Singh, 21 years old, died on the spot. I express my heart-felt condolences to his near and dear.

I am not writing this post as a eulogy to the dead man, because, I just don't know who he is. I am writing this because, I am not happy with the outcome of this tragic event.

What was the outcome? Well, the Police and much of the public have arrived at the conclusion that the accident took place because of the tree that was in the middle of the road and the fatality ensued because the driver wasn’t wearing a seat belt. And the Police have gone ahead and cut down the trees. But, I beg to differ. The reason in my firm opinion is rash driving.

I have been travelling on that road for practically my entire life. I have been driving quite regularly too on that road. And if you drive with discipline, it is one of the most pleasurable drives you can get in the city, what with the smooth surface and dense foliage in the form of old trees. Even in the day time during peak summers, one can find a distinct difference in the temperature there.

However, the youth have been known to drive very indiscriminately on that stretch. The bikers are especially the worst of the lot. With the improving economy in the last few years, more cars have also joined the list.

The other fact is that, a lot of these drivers and riders are new to the stretch. They generally see a pretty wide stretch of good road with not much of traffic. That somehow triggers them to show off their speeding capabilities. And they naturally miss out the continuous warning signs placed on the road. The warning signs basically ask the motorists not to speed and also warn them about the presence of trees.

But once you are into speeding, you don't care about the signs. How can you care when you don't read them right? And adding to the thrill is the presence of a pretty good curve on the road near the Scout Camp. And the issue comes up right there.

Once you round the curve, the experienced (those who use that road regularly) motorists tend to keep to the middle of the road, because there are 2 big trees that are away from the “platform” and pretty much on the road. One of them in fact has a 2 feet gap between the platform and its trunk.

I have often seen the inexperienced drivers try to overtake other vehicles on the curve, from the left. They invariably head straight into the tree and then swerve right, into the regular lane to avoid it. This obviously causes trouble to the vehicle that is already there to the right.

Now coming back to this case, Pavit Singh is reported to have been driving a car with at least 4 others in his car. Some reports in fact suggest that there were 6. I heard from my friend that he was driving a new Maruti Ritz (he saw the damaged car near the Besant Nagar Police Station). And most of the passengers in the car were girls. And the average age of everyone in the car was 21 or 22. The accident took place late on Sunday night, because the reports appeared only on Tuesday in the local newspapers.

To me, that clearly says that the driver wouldn’t have been driving in a disciplined state, because, as a long term resident of the area (his house was in Indra Nagar and did his schooling in Adyar), he would be well aware of the tree. I am not alluding that he was under the influence of alcohol, but going by the other data available, I am willing to conclude that he was just showing off his driving skills to his buddies.

The tree just didn’t spring up when he took the curve. So don't blame the tree as being the cause of the accident. He wasn’t wearing a seat-belt and yes, that would have ensured the fatality. But, why wasn’t he wearing one? Do you know that Seat-belts are mandatory for the front occupants of the car and this is a rule ratified by the Supreme Court more than 10 years ago? So, why weren’t the Police booking people for not wearing their seat-belt?

And now everyone’s launching a campaign for educating people about wearing seat-belt. Why educate I ask? Just enforce the law!

I said earlier that this is not a eulogy for Pavit Singh. But after reading this rant, you may well think that this is a tirade against him. No, that is not my intent either. I have used this case of Pavit Singh, though it can very well be applied in toto to countless Amits, Rajendrans, Bashas and Daniels who drive badly.

My target audience for the rant is the Police who acted swiftly in ensuring that the trees in contention were cut off. If at all they were so concerned all these years, why did they not cut the tree earlier? If there were cases stopping them from cutting it, have they acted in contempt of court now? If there were protests to protect the trees, why didn’t they increase the patrolling on that stretch? Why didn’t they ensure that there was no speeding on that road? Why didn’t they put up speed-breakers on either side of the curve on both lanes? And why didn’t they put additional speed-breakers in the middle of that curve? Did they simply decide that the trees had to go and were waiting for a fatal accident to happen?

I will tell you this. Now that the trees are not there, more moronic motorists are going to be speeding up faster on that stretch. Mark my words, the next fatal accident is only around the corner – pun unintended.

P.S: You can read about the accident and the follow-up actions in these websites.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/04/stories/2010050460460300.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Dont-miss-the-tree-for-the-road/articleshow/5887902.cms

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=2&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOICH&mydateHid=04-05-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=2&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOICH&mydateHid=05-05-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Victims-kin-plan-road-safety-drive/articleshow/5904939.cms

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pavit-Singh-SeatBelt-Campaign/119780684713527