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This letter was sent to me by a friend, a reaction to the report of the road accidents following this year's Gaura-purnima festival. It wasn't really meant for publication, but it's very relevant for devotees everywhere, so I'll publish it here without disclosing the author's name.

Reading about the recent road accidents here makes me very sad. At the same time I know that road safety is not being ignored in India only, but all over ISKCON, including Germany. At least here materialists are often more responsible than devotees in this regard; HH Bir Krishna Maharaja writes about this on his website www.bkgoswami.com.

Only recently did I travel with devotees by car when I noticed that I was the only one using a seat belt. Everyone else, including driver and co-driver, didn't—in spite of snow and ice on the road, and the fact that German law imposes heavy fines on those caught without seat belt.

Another time I was returning with my previous TP from a festival late at night. He was extremely tired, his eyes closing repeatedly. Next to him sat his wife who kept prodding him to stay awake. I sat on the back seat, much fitter than he, with a valid drivers license—I could have taken over for him. For reasons I can't begin to understand the TP insisted on driving himself, though. After two hours' journey I was happy to have arrived alive; never again will I agree to travel like this!

Yet another time I myself was driving a senior god brother to the airport. During the ride he wanted to discuss a topic that was causing me emotional stress. I noticed that because of my agitation I couldn't focus on the traffic anymore, until I refused to further discuss this topic while driving.

I'm sure traffic in India is much more chaotic than here, but believe that in ISKCON many security measures are being neglected as a rule, and that all of us have to become more responsible drivers and passengers.

I hope the devotees from Mayapur will regain their health in full, enabling them to continue their service to Guru and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We can only pray that those who left their bodies in Mathuradesh will be able to return back home to Krishna.