The German Lady told, “In India, people think that they are fools if they wait for the traffic light to turn green when there is no vehicle passing around…but in Germany, people think it’s foolish to break the signal even there is no single vehicle on the road.” It happened in a cross-cultural program that I was attending. The German lady was telling us the difference in the way of thinking between Indians and Germans.

 

      I don’t intend to write yet another criticism about Indians and their law breaking habits. Instead, this is an attempt made to explain as an Indian (who never cared about any rules) how I changed myself and started following the traffic rules.

 

      Not very long back when I was there in Bangalore and had just started to work for a big IT company, I bought a two-wheeler and I was very proud about that. I was indeed a very rash driver thanks to my young age and my so called “Angry Young Man” imagination. My friends had given my riding skills a nickname “cab-driver type” which meant that I used to ride my two-wheeler as rash as a Bangalorean Cab Driver (I hope u know how rash cab drivers in Bangalore are). I never used to follow any rules and always believed that “Rules are made to be Broken”.

 

      There was one traffic rule I eventually learnt not to break later. People in Bangalore don’t really wait for the traffic signals to turn green before passing the signal when they don’t see any traffic on the other side of the road. They think that if a person waits for the signal, he is insane. I was one among them until I realized how wrong I was.

 

      After I relocated to Mysore, I encountered this incident which not only sent a chill down my spine but made me understand the importance of the traffic signal. The traffic in Mysore is too less compared to that of Bangalore and the road I used to travel daily to my office(Ring Road) was even more traffic free. To reach my house, I had to cross the Bangalore-Mysore highway.

 

      One day after the office, I was coming back and my favorite song was playing in my mp3 player. I was naturally singing along with it and was in a totally relaxed mode. But I didn’t know that horror was in store for me to witness.

 

       I had reached the traffic signal at Bangalore-Mysore highway and stopped my vehicle waiting for the green signal. All the four roads (the ring road and the Highway) totally empty and not even a single vehicle could be seen. Just as I stopped, a motorist who came behind me didn’t stop for the signal and started crossing the road. His was an old scooter and was crossing the highway slowly. Suddenly a big car (probably an Innova) appeared from nowhere on the highway and was moving towards the scooter at a very high speed. It all happened in a wink of an eye and there was a huge crash between the car and the scooter. I had gone totally numb and could not think for several seconds.

 

       By the time I parked my vehicle properly and ran towards the spot, many people (don’t exactly know where they came from. Probably people standing at a tea shop in the corner) had gathered around the scooter and the car had fled away at a higher speed. It was a hit and run case and the scooterist was lying dead on the spot. This was the most dreadful experience of my lifetime and I guess I will never forget the sight of the dead scooterist lying in the pool of his own blood.

 

       Only after this incident did I understand how important it is to follow traffic rules. I now know that it could cost a life if we show even the slightest of negligence.

 

       I highly respect people like Sowmya and Bharath who are with Wemove who really follow the traffic rules and wait for the signal even if hundreds of vehicles behind them are honking and shouting at them to break the signal (which happens now to me as well).

 

       It is very tempting to join the crowd and break a signal but staying there and not breaking it really makes you proud and happy. 

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                             - Harsha