Salman Siddiqui September 3, 2006

Tags: karachi , accidents , roads , traffic , law

href="/tag/death">death row. His only fault was that he wasn’t wearing a helmet on an unfortunate day. Like any other usual Monday afternoon, a young man on a bike met with an accident on Karachi’s main Karsaz road. I happened to be right behind him on a three-wheeler. The chap’s motorcycle had slipped sideways as it got punctured while driving, flinging him and his pillion riding friend head on to the road. The friend miraculously escaped unscathed with minor bruises on arms and feet. He, the driver, wasn’t that lucky. With blood oozing out from his head profusely, the shock of the impact had left him in epileptic like seizures. It was evident that he would succumb to his injuries right there on the middle of the road unless he received urgent medical attention.

Without wasting any more time, I started flagging down cars for a lift to the hospital. But a dozen of them passed by without even stopping their engines for a second. The pattern was the same for all of them: they would slow down a bit, look at the dying man on the road, expand their mouths with a mixture of horror and disgust, and then speed away. With precious seconds passing by, the rickshaw in which I had been traveling seemed like the only best option left for transport at that moment. After what seemed like an eternity, a man, who had initially sped past us by like many others, reversed his car back--perhaps also discovering his conscience in the process--and agreed to take the injured man to the hospital. By the time we had put the bleeding person at the back seat of the car, he had lost consciousness…

As the car sped away, I wondered like many others gathered around whether he would survive at all or not. In fact I still don’t know whether he did. Although a faint stain of his blood is on my sleeve, the truth is I don’t even know his name. Later, a sense of guilt crept inside me, questioning whether I had really done the best that I could. Maybe I should have gone to the hospital too to see if any help was needed there? In any case, the real heroes of that day were the pedestrians on the street, who if one thinks about it, are always the first people to selflessly help an injured soul when such tragic incidents occur. From the first person who rushed forward and put the bleeding skull of that unknown man under his lap, knowing well that his clothes will get stained permanently, to the people who had strained their arms to carry him off to the vehicle, the acts of those individuals were selfless and pure. One might argue that this is so since pedestrians are more easily and readily available to help in such situations since they are on foot already, but after observing closely the 20 cars that had sped past, and how only one of them stopped, that too not of its own accord but only when begged to, I feel that maybe there could be a more sinister reason behind the collective inaction of this select group of car owners.

The motive could be that lawlessness in the city is so strife, with cases of carjacking and robbery so common place, that people today in the city fear even stopping to help someone in genuine need; even if it means leaving someone dying on the streets, they would rather not take the risk. Add that to the general sense of apathy among the people who have the ‘as long as it doesn’t affect me, I don’t care’ attitude, I wasn’t all surprised to see the reaction of the four wheel owners. Besides who would want to get their seat covers dirty, right? In this perspective, the gentleman who actually took the ‘risk’ of helping that person reach the emergency room, in spite of all the ‘odds’ against him, surely deserves an applause.

Also one can’t help but ponder that had that bike rider worn a helmet, his injuries could have been less fatal. But as things are, a dangerous health hazard norm here is to not to wear a helmet even if one owns it. It’s just not cool for some people. For others the hot and humid weather makes them go nuts in it. A common comical sight on the streets is to see how a family of three kids, a wife and a hubby, enjoy their ride on a two wheeler without any form of protection on any of their heads. Even more ironic is when sometimes one such family rides with only the male diver of that vehicle donning the helmet. Don’t the other fellow riders deserve the same precautions of safety? Consider what tragedy would befall on them if the bike slipped unexpectedly as it did on that sunny day.

With persistent awful conditions of our roads that are filled with bumps all year round, and now thanks to the recent monsoon rains, many pot holes as well, the risks of having an accident today are even greater; more so for motorcycle owners. One can understand a family for not being able to afford a car for a family of six, but not being able to afford helmets is a hard pill to swallow. Maybe fashion conscious wives might not be willing to don the steel cap initially while going to a night time wedding, but then show them a picture of a split head someday, and I’m sure that even that problem can be solved. It’s just suicidal not to wear a helmet these days. A helmet wearing culture needs to be developed on an urgent basis here, especially among the youth who are ever ready to zip past vehicles perilously in heavy traffic. And no amount of policing or ad campaigns can bring about that change unless people themselves realize the importance of it, though that too can help.