A little care goes a long way
Important Precautions
An integral part of Deepavali celebration is bursting crackers — but while many people have fun lighting crackers or colourful sparklers, it’s important to be cautious.
If one isn’t careful, it can pose quite a threat to bystanders — which is why safety should be the paramount concern while bursting crackers. Metrolife speaks to few Bangaloreans to find out how they plan to address this issue.
Ian Faria, a corporate trainer, says, “The first thing is that we should realise that public roads are for the public. Too many people are hurt by fireworks, either through burns or from noise pollution. Before someone lights a cracker, he or she should ensure that nobody is around — also, they should indicate to people around that they are about to burst a cracker.”
There should be proper vigilance from the people who burst crackers. Aditya Maheswaran, a management student, adds, “After the cracker is lit, there’s a bright yellow light that glows before it bursts. This signals to bystanders. One should buy branded fireworks, rather than the unsafe ones available at cheaper rates. And another option is to assign a person to indicate to others while one person is bursting crackers. This will avoid bystanders getting hurt.”
There are many people who light rockets in horizontal bottles, which is also quite dangerous for bystanders. Rahul, a finance analyst, says, “People should burst crackers in open fields. In this way, we can avoid a lot of mishaps. Another option is to light the crackers on the terrace of houses or apartments — this reduces the risk factor. Children, especially, experiment with crackers; they try various stunts like lighting the crackers and throwing them into the air. Parents should monitor their children and stop them from doing such acts.”
M A Saleem, additional commissioner of police (traffic), says, “Bystanders do get hurt a lot during Deepavali. Some of the cautions we can take to ensure their safety are — firstly, people should avoid bursting crackers on main roads. It’s better to burst them on terraces or inside their house compounds. Most importantly, in the small streets, one should be careful about passing vehicles — the petrol tanks could catch fire easily.”
