Long back while learning to drive, I took my Mark 11 Ambassador from a side lane into Straight Mile Road, a busy road in Jamshedpur. I had not noticed another car that was crossing my path. Extremely annoyed, the other driver stuck his head out and shouted, “Straight Mile Road kiska hai?”, meaning who owns Straight Mile Road? I blinked helplessly and tried to comprehend the question, still not being quite comfortable with Hindi. My husband came to the rescue, apologised to the irate driver and told me that the right of the road lies with the vehicle moving on the main road and any vehicle entering from the sides needs to give way. I learnt a lesson for safe driving but a recent incident made me wonder who else has the right of the road.
A few days ago, I read in the newspaper about a morning walker gored by a bull and dying of the injury. It was shocking but my feelings turned to sadness on knowing that the victim was known to me, a pleasant caring man in his sixties. He had gone for a walk at 5 a.m. and would have returned with a packet of milk. Instead, within a few minutes of stepping into a busy street, a raging bull gored him to death and injured another person. His wife was informed by an eyewitness. Later, the bull was tranquillised and taken away. It was not a human-wildlife conflict on the fringes of a forest. It was a fatal assault by a “domestic” animal gone wild on a public street. I have seen cautious men going for walks with a stick in hand to ward off stray dogs. Cows sitting on the road and blocking traffic is a common feature. Goats and chicken suddenly crossing the road and causing accidents or getting run over also happen. But no one could ever be armed to deal with a raging bull on a city street. Have cows and bulls gained the right of the road?
Another day, I asked my daughter whether her children had gone out to play. She told me about the stray dogs in her locality and how a child was bitten badly. She was already angry and helpless about the monkeys and now the stray dogs were making things much worse for the local people. It had become genuinely hazardous for children to play even outside their own homes and for others passing by. She declared with dejection, “Nothing can be done. We have complained several times. I don’t let the children go out without an adult accompanying.” I wondered whether stray dogs too have gained the right of the road.
As a birder, I am saddened that the eggs and chicks of ground-breeding birds such as lapwings and bustards get trampled by cattle, and stray dogs kill migratory ducks and geese. Don’t birds have any right to safe feeding and breeding grounds? On my first visit to a developed country, I was struck by the total absence of stray animals on the streets. Cattle and sheep could be seen in the countryside grazing peacefully in large fields enclosed by fencing. Pet dogs were always on leash.
Road connectivity is getting better in our country through widening of old roads and the laying of new expressways. The focus is surely on benefiting people who alone should have the right of the roads. There is an urgent need to decide about other claimants such as stray dogs, squatting cows and wandering bulls. The problem of animals on Indian roads is complex and there are multiple stakeholders. Discussions need to be held at local levels with the goal of providing safety to both humans and other animals. Methods that work in the developed countries to keep animals off the road may appear radical in the Indian context, but a change is required. Safety on roads means more than speed breakers and seat belts. It is hazardous to have everything everywhere all at once.
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