Growing Indiscipline in Roads

We are said to be living in a modern and civilized world. However, in reality, we are erroneous to label ourselves as civilized people.  The materialistic advancement of life has accelerated along with time, but the humanitarian aspect of it seems to have suffered a huge setback. Today, being civilized seems to have been associated with people’s flashy appearance. In fact, we seem to have grown meaner in our attitudes, behaviour and become self-centered, and sometimes don’t even seem to have a little consideration for others. The welfare of one’s own has been the primary concern for every individual, because of which we are intolerant of others’ behaviour, and have become rebellious. As a result, the acts of indiscipline among people are rampant everywhere.

Indiscipline is gradually becoming a serious problem in Kathmandu these days. Even though it has turned to be quite costly for some people at times, the others don’t seem to have learnt any lessons from them. It seems that more than half of the people on the road are found to be breaking traffic rules. Lane encroachment by bikers and jaywalking is common in the crowded city. Moreover, bikers are even found riding along the footpath sometimes, making it difficult for the pedestrians to walk freely. Majority of such bikers are youths, and especially teenagers, who ride bikes mainly to show off rather than for travelling purpose.

The high speeding sports bikes and the strangely modified ones ridden by the unruly aggressive teenagers cutting through the heavy traffic, showcasing their rather awkward stunts terrorize people in the road. Even the pedestrians turn out to be a nuisance for the bikers and motorists many times. They cross the road wherever and whenever they like due to compulsion and habit, and don’t care about the speedy vehicles. Some other times, we find them walking in a group in front of us quite carelessly and irresponsibly, almost blocking our way, and even when we keep honking, they simply ignore us. Trying to remind them of their folly will simply mean getting unintentionally involved in the exchange of words, which may invite more unwanted problems in the future. This means, we have no option but to ignore the pedestrians and move ahead.

Similar is the case of public vehicles. They don’t stop only at the specified stops, but pick up or drop passengers wherever they like. Some of the public vehicles, especially the micro buses, don’t seem to acknowledge the right of two wheelers to ply on the road. So bikers and the cyclists often have to fear them for their reckless speed and overtaking.

With such chaos growing rampant on the road, city roads are becoming more and more unsafe everyday. Therefore, it is high time we became perspective about our own behaviour rather than pointing our fingers at others for the present state of affairs.

Durga Gautam(Lunatic)


[Published in The Kathmandu Post]