Guys driving swanky cars are unruliest while we blame taxi drivers, minister KJ Alphons said
Nearly one and a half lakh people die in road accidents every year in India, that's about 400 deaths every day - one of the highest figures in the world. Today, talking about road safety, Tourism Minister KJ Alphons identified the most unruly drivers on our roads: "Guys in swanky cars."
The minister, while inaugurating a conference on Safer Road Transportation in the national capital, said: "Very often I have noticed that it is the guys in swanky cars who are the most unruly of all and we blame taxi drivers."
The minister went on to say that not only do those driving such fancy cars "run over people sleeping on footpaths", their lawyers manipulate facts and the rich get away.
"We think that once we have a swanky car we own the whole world, we have the right to run over people sleeping on footpaths, of course there are lawyers who will manipulate the facts and bring in a poor guy who will say he was driving...we have seen many famous cases in India. We all need to change,"
Mr Alphons added.
Switching subjects, Mr Alphons went on to question the logic behind the security cover given to him as minister, and said he was embarrassed to be seen driving around with an escort. The minister had cut out his
Y-category security last November, choosing to travel with a personal security officer (PSO) in his car instead.
"Who wants to kill the poor tourism minister of the country? A lot of this is a sense of self-importance. Yes, there are people who need to be protected - the prime minister, the president, vice-president, home minister...their security cannot be compromised," he said.
Mr Alphons's
controversial comments on road safety come just days after he had spoken about a certain "
code of conduct" by tourists, including foreign tourists, that's in sync with the culture and traditions of the place they visit.
"Abroad, foreigners walk the streets in bikinis. When they come to India, you don't expect foreigners to walk around in bikinis in our towns. In Goa, they do it on the beach. They don't come to the town dressed like that. You must have a sense of understanding of the culture of the place and country that you go and behave accordingly," Mr Alphons had told NDTV in an exclusive interview earlier this month.
With inputs from PTI