Another Accident: 10 Deaths in a Week

The city hasn't mourned enough for the 5 young lives that were crushed beneath salt in the Chomu House Circle accident that took place on 6th June morning yet. But the death vehicles aren't ready to stop there. The killing spree on Jaipur roads is on since then.

6th June: 5 people died as overloaded truck overturned and turtled over their car near Chomu House Circle.

11th June: A tractor overloaded with fodder was spotted running on just two wheels with its other two wheels lifted in air in Chomu. Though it didn't cause any death rushing through the busy bus stand areas of Chomu on its two back wheels, but are we waiting for it to cause one?

12th June: 2 people died after a truck rammed into multiple vehicles in Virat Nagar, Jaipur.

12th June: A 21-year-old biker died as an uncontrollable truck rammed into his bike near Agra road.

13th June: Two people have died as a truck hit a bike near Shivdaspura.

Blood on the Roads AGAIN!

On the previous Tuesday morning, an overloaded truck had made 5 lives struggle for hours under tonnes of salt and made them die eventually. And yesterday, on another Tuesday morning, once again an overloaded truck led two people to death after it hit a bike in Shivdaspura.

The victims have been identified as Bhanwarlal (32) and Vikas (21), who were residents of Prahladpura village. The duo were heading towards Sitapura Industrial Area when this heavy truck run them over at around 8 a.m. near Sitapura Circle.

And the truck driver jumped of the truck's cabin and fled. The victims had got their heads mangled by the wheels of the truck. They were rushed to the hospital but couldn't be saved.

10 Lives Lost in 7 Days under Heavy Wheels

We have already lost 10 lives under heavy wheels, a few of which were driving beyond the permissible limits, in the past 7 days. But despite the chain of fatal road accidents in Jaipur, the authorities still need a wake up call for putting proper traffic regulations.

• No measures have been taken to keep overloaded trucks under check or to restrict the entry of heavy vehicles in city areas.

• Overloaded trucks are being permitted to drive into the city limits, due to corruption allegedly.

• Even important spots in the city have dysfunctional CCTVs and signal lights and also, lack of street lights that leads to darkness during the wee hours.

Candle March, Boiling Posts but No Improvement

The family members of the 5 people who lost their lives to the horrible road accident on 6th June, organised a candle march at the same spot where the lives were lost - Chomu House Circle. The city residents also participated in the candle march holding placards in their hands, from Rajmahal Palace to Chomu House Circle. They shouted slogans against the government for negligence in restricting heavy vehicles and also in handling the rescue operations.

A few from the family and friend circle of the ones who died, also took to social media to express their grief and boiling anger against the authorities.

Ankit Agarwal, the childhood friend of Rahul Sharma (the groom-to-be), took to social media and wrote an open letter voicing his anger against the authorities for being so inconsiderate while performing the rescue operations. He has questioned why the officers didn't even try to find if the people in the car still had life inside, before hanging the crushed car 100 ft above to shift it to a secluded area? He has clearly questioned if this loss of 5 lives was an ACCIDENT OR MURDER? Read his full post here.

On the other hand, Astha Sharma, sister of Rahul Sharma (the groom-to-be), questions all the RIPs that we are getting to see on the social sites, "How do I even begin to make peace with this tragedy?" She also questions the check post officials in her post, "How can a truck let go at 9 stops even if it was highly overloaded (27 tons allowed vs 47 tons)?". Read her full post here.

Appeal for a Safer City

How many more loved ones are we ready to lose before things change for the better? When will their be a strict check on the vehicles entering the city? When can we expect all CCTVs to be working fine? When will we have properly lit streets with working street lights? Can we expect the officers to be more considerate during rescue operations? can the procedure be made quicker to safe more and more lives?

But, is it ONLY about the Government?

We believe that things had been better if the authorities were taking their job more sincerely. But it's always easy to blame the system ALONE and take NO responsibility. Let us question ourselves too. How many of you wear helmets, take care of the speed limits and follow all traffic rules including red lights? How many of you have never got into drunk driving? How many of you are considerate enough and eager to help road accident victims?

If not, then when are we going to be more sincere towards not just our safety but the safety of other fellow riders on the roads? When are we going to be more humane and considerate towards the ones we share this planet with?

Think about it. The NEXT one may be YOU or your LOVED one.