Women drivers enjoy relax driving in city

On the first day of the new odd-even plan, women drivers had a relaxing day driving around town. Even though many of them opposed the exemptions given to them, they said that they took advantage of “relatively empty” roads and had outings with friends since it was a public holiday.

“Since it is a holiday, I left home early in the morning with my friend in my car. We have watched a movie, shopped, etc and enjoyed the empty roads due to odd-even,” said college student Ridhi Sharma.

When asked whether there should be any exemptions to women during the road rationing scheme, Sharma said, “I don’t think so. There won’t be much impact on pollution if so many categories are exempted. But since we are exempted, I am enjoying the advantage.”

Similarly, another woman driver Amisha said that she reached her office in 25 minutes instead of the usual 45 minutes due to less traffic on roads.

“It was an easy day. I love when odd-even is in place in Delhi,” she said. On a serious note, Amisha said women should be exempted, considering their safety.

“I feel safe in my vehicle. In today’s time, we cannot even trust cab drivers. And sometimes we have odd working hours.  So keeping these things in mind, women should be exempted,” she said.

Empty roads
Amisha added that her sister is currently learning driving and “relatively empty” roads are helping her.

Law student Pooja thinks women should not be exempted. “We are being taught about equality in our course. So if we demand equal rights in everything then there should be no bias even in granting exemptions,” she said.

Meanwhile, workers at parking lots said that they have been asked not to allow parking of an even-numbered car on an odd-numbered day, and vice versa.

“There has hardly been any violation today, but if there is any we are strictly telling them that parking is not allowed. If we allow it, then we are also challaned,” said Sunil Kumar, working at a parking lot in Connaught Place.