Jammu should follow New Delhi experiment, where the police have decided to impose a fine of Rs 2,000 for obstructing an ambulance carrying a critical patient to hospital. With the growing traffic and hardly caring for traffic rules the road users in Jammu are the most insensitive. They won’t budge a bit to make way for such cases and are always in hurry as if the road is going to end. The sides for that does not matter they would push from any side and direction and even do not mind taking a U-turn in the mid of the traffic with one hand holding the phone. Who cares for an ambulance carrying a critical patient to the hospital? Resultant effect for a journey of 20 minutes one ends up spending more than an hour because of the chaos on the road. Road users should realise emergency vehicles –ambulances, fire engines and police patrol vehicles-have the over-riding right of way over all motorised traffic on the extreme right of all the major roads. All a hospital has to do is report vehicle number, date and time of violation and proof, if any to police. Not only this there is a need to sensitise the drivers/operators of these emergency vehicles about the criticality of the situation. Most emergency vehicle drivers will agree the rule is rarely followed which leads to the loss of life and damage to the property in case of emergency. The prevailing mismanagement has led to many losing their lives on the roads itself before reaching the hospitals. A little bit of patience and better road sense can make the use of the roads more comfortable and can save many a life in an emergency case too.
