Rising road accidents and wrong road laws

The disaster at Avinashi, where a container lorry collided with a KSRTC bus, has shocked society. Serious discussions are taking place among people about road accidents and their causes. Most experts have reached the preliminary conclusion that the accident happened because the truck driver fell asleep.

I have seen at least a minority on social media trying to crucify the poor worker who drove the truck, judging him the sole culprit of the whole tragedy.

Such attempts only divert the attention of the people and society from the root causes. Studies show that only 10 per cent of road accidents happen solely because of drivers' carelessness.

Work without rest and long working hours cause no small mental stress and strain among workers in this sector. It is often poor workers who become scapegoats in the needless rivalry among transport companies in the goods trade. Many long-distance goods lorries run with a single driver as part of this profit-driven rivalry. The central government, which should bring in a strong law to stop all this, has instead taken a position that gives every help to this exploitation of workers in the private sector.

The amendment to the 1988 Motor Vehicles Act is part of such an agenda. Many intellectuals wholeheartedly welcomed this law, introduced in the name of reducing road accidents.

When the law came up for discussion, we all said inside and outside Parliament that by multiplying every fine many times over in the name of reducing road accidents, the government was only throwing dust in people's eyes. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act is a wolf in sheep's clothing, presented to a society that looks at such issues only through a common sense that blames workers for everything without going into the real causes of road accidents. We must be ready to analyse the circumstances that led to the Avinashi tragedy in this way. Ultimately, through this law, which helps the profit-hungry, needless competition in the private sector, the Centre is slowly encroaching on many powers of the states.

In the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, only the Left opposed this draconian law and exposed its anti-worker provisions. The government overrode the Left's resistance with its brute majority in Parliament. Whenever the bill came up in 2018 and 2019, we spoke pointing out these issues. My first speech in the House after being elected to the Rajya Sabha was on the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill. For the friend who asked what our MPs were doing when such laws came, I add some parts of that speech here. I hope that friends who blindly criticise the Left whenever it tries to show that many laws presented to us in attractive, multi-coloured covers are only exercises to fill the pockets of big monopolies will at least now look within and try to understand the real facts.