Sunday, July 26, 2015

No helmet, no protection

So, a woman constable in Chennai was triple driving a two-wheeler without a helmet and was fined Rs. 200/-. The justification for the paltry penalty was that the offence was in June of this year when the current, more stringent rules and penalties were not in force. But, shouldn't there be a premium for traffic infractions by police? Should they not be leading the citizens by their actions? Oh, you say, that is all such idealistic crap. OK, I won’t dispute that (does not mean that position is indisputable!). But, I'll let this slide, for the moment.
I live in Srirangam, a satellite town of Tiruchirappalli and let me give you a run down on what I have witnessed for the past more than a week, starting a few days after the current helmet law came into force. I walk about 600 meters to catch the college bus in the morning and get dropped off a little closer to home, about 400 meters, in the evening. In this 1,000 m total of walking along one of the main roads in the town, lasting no more than 11 minutes in total, I have counted helmet-less driving of motorized two-wheelers 27, 34, 15, 28, 52, 45, 37 times ... I stopped counting because it taxed my mental arithmetic capability.
With this small set of data points no computer can discern a pattern. But, I did, with some help from tennis.
In tennis, there was a time players took hardly anytime between points. But, there were some gamesmanship, by some players (mainly the “ugly American”, aka Jimbo, Jimmy Connors, the ultimate gamesmanship artist; and Ilie Nastase too) who deliberately took forever to start play after a point. It is to stop this practice a time limit between points was imposed. Now, what do you think happened? The games got longer. Now it is 25 seconds, not a second less, before the server tosses the ball in the air for her serve. Indeed, now the chair referee hardly imposes the 25 second rule unless it is egregiously violated.
So, what really happened was even those players who may have wanted to get on with the game waited for 25 seconds. The number of times bounced the balls increased to fill the time allotted. Just watch Djokovic’s pre-serve ritual and you would understand what I mean. One version of Murphy’s Law I have heard is that a task will expand itself to fill the time allotted to it! This is a fit case to be given as a rule. Steffi Graf proves the rule by being its exception!
Something similar may be happening with the helmet rule. Without the rule, those who wanted to be safe and be on the safe side of law were wearing it. Now, with the rule and with so many people violating it, even those who were safety conscious must feel like sissies and must have discarded their helmets. That is, the law, by not being studiously enforced, has had precisely the opposite effect on the behavior of motorists from what was intended. Now, the parallel between the helmet rule and the 25 second rule in tennis stands established.
Again, going back to the woman constable, why wouldn't a non-police citizen demand that he be given concession on the quantum of fine? Something to think about. Now, that is a slippery slope with no exit ramps. Where would you put the exit ramp?
Giving exemplary punishment to a few who are merely unlucky to get caught is a non-starter.
Yes, I am going to sound truly heartless – scrap the rule. Advertise widely that citizens are at their own risk if while riding (or pillion riding) a two-wheeler without a helmet get into an accident no matter who caused the accident. Their treatment (including the cost) will not be underwritten by civil society. Insurance policies are notorious for their nano-scale conditionalities. Add a few in respect of helmet-less driving.
No helmet, no protection.

Raghuram

9 comments:

Indian Satire said...

Without compulsion hardly anything works in India

Indian Satire said...

Without compulsion hardly anything works in India

mandakolathur said...

Why can't ones' safety be a compulsion, Balu?

RE

Indian Satire said...

It's a paradoxical that law enforcing agencies have to make personal safety a compulsion

mandakolathur said...

That is because personal safety has become detached from oneself. This is why I suggested getting to the idiots by the back door, through requirement of insurance.

Aditi said...

A collective we lack a basic sense of safety. Behind most actions of individuals is a naïve foolhardy expectation that no harm will come to self. Accidents etc. can only happen to others. Otherwise it is unimaginable that people do not wear helmets or use seatbelts. Try to think how many people choose to cross the roads exactly at a busy crossing diagonally through the traffic rather than cross in steps at designated areas? Or cross the road exactly where they get off from any transport? I have frequently seen people walking the roads with children exposed to the side of the flow of traffic. A collective we just do not have the basic sense of safety.

mandakolathur said...

Aditi, you're focused on the collective and I accept that. But, think, what sustains that collective? Is it the herd mentality? Is it a sense that people taking risks win out all the time? Beats me!

Aditi said...

Raghu, I think the collective is sustained by demonstrated example of probability with cognitive bias at individual level. Things like not coming across a helmet-less accident victim among known circle of acquaintances, where such victims are mere statistics in newspaper. You get the drift.

mandakolathur said...

Yes I do Aditi, and that is precisely where I have a problem. We look outside, watch clouds gather, have to go out - take the umbrella. All of us have experienced this, a case of probability. But, as you said, other than myself, I do not know anyone who has had head injury driving a two-wheeler. By the way, I was wearing a helmet, a good one at that, yet, perhaps because it was sort of oversized, it must have flown off my head and I ended up with a head injury and lost hearing in my left ear. Why can't people learn from me?