The early humans with their weird eyes, used to curiously observe the logs of wood and round boulders rolling down the mountain slopes or heavy winds pushed them round and round away. From this curious observation day in and day out, germinated in their mind, the path-breaking idea of the wheel, the idea that after its beautiful epoch-making flight, took the revolutionary shape in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BCE when the Sumerian people inserted rotating axles into solid discs of wood, that marked the birth of the modern wheel. Since then, the wheel has been rolling up and up stopless and evolved into numerous forms and designs and for numerous purposes, setting up en route many a civilization and comfortably carrying the genus homo upto the present glorious world homo sapiens sapiens and will be carrying them from glory to glory for any time to come.
The wheel, the most important invention of humanity, has caused major social changes, made transport faster and easier, fostered more inventions, helped humanity to win over time, hastened progress, brought industrial revolutions among many. The wheel has been the chief cause of upward mobility, global assimilation and unification, inclusive human development, international cooperation in disaster management, supply of food and other essentials to economically poor nations, supply of medicines and life-saving drugs, international trade and business, exports and imports, spreading of global values, so on...
And now, with the booming of automobile industry across the world, at the height of the so-called modern civilization, the whole planet is brimming with the wheels -- scooters, motorbikes, autorickshaws, cars, vans, jeeps, busses, trucks, tractors, taxis, ambulances, caravans, police cars, school busses, fire vehicles, and not to mention countless others -- accomplishing different tasks of the human beings like their loyal servants. The wheels take school children to schools, employees to offices, patients to hospitals, spectators to stadiums, tourists to tourist places, devotees to places of worship; carry job applicants to examination centers, construction materials and labor to the sites, minerals to the plants and ports, food grains to procurement centers, goods and services to the consumers; and help in socialization, observation of festivals, organization of fairs and do numerous short and long errands serving the people essentially and tirelessly. And with the present development of public transport systems paired with entry of ride-hailing companies and on-line food and product delivery systems, the 21st century world is now beating his chest of enjoying the thrills of extreme mobility and supreme convenience, courtesy the wheel.
But, on the flip side, the glorious wheels have been leaving behind bloody trails of tolls and casualties in their each wheel length. The ambitious wheels brakelessly run over millions of people every year, injuring them, maiming them, dismembering them, and killing them remorselessly. Death stalks behind every wheel that runs, as the killer wheels hurtle, collide, bump, and run into people on the road by day, by night. Although accidents are daily events in urban areas and towns and cities, village roads cannot either have sighs of relief.
In fact, the culprit is not the wheel but the driver that runs it. The driver who has now emerged as the roadway octopus does suck the people's blood thirstily and does eat their flesh and bones hungrily with his eight tentacles of drunk driving, reckless driving, distracted driving, showing-off, over-speeding, over-taking, fatigue-driving and aggressive driving. Numberless road octopuses ravage the modern road everyday, as the factors like road rage, tailgating, pothole, overloading, vehicle rollovers, distractions, etc., as their accomplices, take their toll, adding to the woes of the afflicted people. And countless measures, relentless efforts, top-brain strategies and programs from international to national to regional level every year have humbly failed to stop the marauder course of the modern wheels as they speed down from the world to each of us.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death by injury and the eighth-leading cause of all deaths globally and they make up a surprisingly significant portion of the worldwide burden of ill-health. Every year the lives of approximately 1.35 million people are killed as a result of road traffic crashes. About 50 million people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury. Road traffic injuries are now close to be the third-leading contributor to the global burden of disease and injury. Besides, road accidents have emerged as the leading cause of death for children and young adults.
The modern world has taken road accidents for granted. The provisions like vehicle insurance, good samaritan law, etc. indicate that the traffic rules do not work and road accidents cannot be prevented. And, therefore, the aim is to manage the consequences of the accidents through damages, compensations, etc. Can, however, the actual losses be made good? Can the parents who lost their only son in an accident ever get back their son? Can the mother of three small children get back her husband who was crushed under the wheels?
Every vehicular run has become a lottery now. Some play it for needs, some for luxury and status, and some for fun. And each is suicidal. Sparing needs; luxury, status and fun of mobility is a bitter irony. That, we live at the cost of our own life.
1. Needs that are not motorable.
2. Hyped needs.
3. Luxury is more essential than the essence of life.
4. Fun buries fact.
To be continued...
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