Breaking her silence after witnessing her husband and three-year-old child being crushed to death by a bus in Gurgaon, Jyoti Gupta has started an online petition with SaveLIFE Foundation on Change.org, seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to introduce a comprehensive national road safety law.
In her letter, she has said: “I watched my three-year-old daughter Lineshya and husband die in front of my eyes. They were right outside our house waiting for the school van when a speeding bus came from the wrong side and dragged them away. Both of them died on the spot.”
“My whole world turned upside down. I lost everything in just a few minutes. The driver who killed my family was out on bail within a few hours. I am still in shock and disbelief,” wrote Jyoti.
She then went on to cite the death of Union Cabinet Minister Gopinath Munde in a road accident recently and said: “In the last 10 years alone, more than 1 million people have died in road accidents in India. This needs to change.”
“That’s why I started this petition along with SaveLIFE Foundation asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure a stronger road safety law and to introduce it in Parliament,” she said.
The petition stated that new laws that need to be brought in include protection for children, pedestrians and cyclists during commute, increased enforcement, mandatory road safety education and transparent/efficient process for getting a licence.
Stating that getting a driving licence in India is as easy as getting a pizza delivered, Ms. Jyoti in her petition noted: “Pedestrians and cyclists are most affected on the roads but there are no laws to protect them. We cannot let more people die just because there isn’t an effective law in place.”
