Even as Road Safety Week kicked off yesterday, we are in no doubt that throughout the city, as happens every day, cars cut through red lights, motorcyclists defied one-way street rules, overloaded trucks speeded, and pedestrians jaywalked dangerously. This sounds like a nightmare scenario in some fictitious place, but unfortunately it is what Mumbaikars encounter every day.

This is not to say there are no law-abiding, safe drivers and riders. But the preponderance of rash drivers, and the gravity of their offences, all but nullify safe driving by others. And it often seems like an exercise in futility. On the one hand, for example, traffic police try to keep heads safe by booking riders without helmets. But when bikers are so indifferent to their own safety, how can we expect them to care about other vehicles and pedestrians?