The Truckers Story - #DriveSafeIndia

Covering thousands of miles Nirmal Singh transports goods such as apples and milk with a 12-hour alternating shift, daily India has one of the worst traffic accident records in the world. According to figures from the country’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, there is one road fatality every four minutes.  About a quarter of these accidents involve heavy commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses.

India’s truck drivers do not get an easy ride. Away from their families for months at a time, their work requires hard work and concentration day and night. Some need to continue driving in harsh conditions and long stretches of poorly lit roads despite poor health and eyesight, to provide for their families. Impaired vision has an established connection to unsafe driving and road safety.  On the occasion of the ‘Road Safety Month’, Shell looks back at the journey of some of these champions who’ve weathered all challenges to keep the ride going. 

Shell India and VisionSpring, a non-governmental organization, with their #DriveSafeIndia, set up eye-testing centers. Acknowledging their challenges of time and travel, the idea was to take the camps to the drivers rather than expect them to go out of their way. Most of these eye camps are set up at truck stops, ports, and other transport hubs where truck drivers congregate. As part of the campaign, Shell has so far screened the eyes of 1,79,450 drivers and transport staff across 40 cities in India. While 67% of these were diagnosed with refractive error, 69% of them were found to be first-time spectacle wearers Noteworthy that 8,004 people were identified with cataracts and other eye diseases.

A life on the road: India’s truck drivers receive much-needed eye care on the go at #DriveSafeIndia camps

Covering thousands of miles Nirmal Singh transports goods such as apples and milk with a 12-hour alternating shift, daily

Nirmal from the city of Jalandhar in the north Indian state of Punjab, has been a truck driver for 40 years. He drives at least 12 hours a day, alternating with hi co-driver. It is anything but comfortable, but Nirmal doesn’t complain. It is hard work, which sees him plying highways across India for weeks - sometimes months - on end.

Nirmal Singh completing all formalities at once of the #DrivesafeIndia Eye CampsNirmal recalls a day from his rare trip home when he tuned into a cricket match on television. He could not see the numbers on the screen, so he asked his wife to tell him the score. “She dragged me to the optometrist the next day. And that is when I got my first pair of spectacles,” he says. This was about 20 years ago, he recalls. Now 55, Nirmal has not had his eyes tested since his last visit. “I have not seen clearly for the last six months,’’ he confesses, pointing to his glasses, which are scratched and dirty.

A trained specialist guiding Nirmal during the eye checkup

As a responsible driver, Singh understands that it is not just his life at stake, but also others’ that he drives along the roads by. 

Drivers with manageable vison-related issues receive free spectacles, mostly on the spot

Nirmal Singh got his eyes checked at a #DriveSafeIndia eye camp in Bangalore, which was some 2600 kms away from home while on duty transporting goods from Kashmir. With no time to fix a doctor’s appointment, Singh considers the facility available at such camps extremely convenient while drivers are already on the go. The eye camps have made it possible for truck drivers with minor vision impairments, to pick up spectacles on the spot. Drivers with more complex eyesight issues, such as astigmatism, are told to return later to pick up their glasses or are directed to the right medical centers for more advanced treatment.  

"i am very happy with them. i can not wait to show them (the new spectacles) to my wife." say Nirmal Singh