There is a vehicle trying to turn on the road. Instead of
giving it space to do it’s work, I will zip through the smallest gap available.
It may be sometimes risky, but I will do it. Well, there are cases that the
window for zipping is not sufficient and we are stuck in a scenario where the
main vehicle is stuck in an odd angle on the road with the errant vehicle
plugging the gap. Amidst all the honkings, we notice that rest of the vehicles
stand inches away, there by, not giving any opportunity to the stuck vehicles
place to move. How long does this take, then, to clear the traffic? In an
attempt to save a few seconds, how many minutes are lost? All this is happening
because no one understands the concept that by giving someone else a
preference, the traffic flow becomes smoother and hence, the time spent waiting
will be converted to travelling at a better speed. Is this not the story we see
everywhere in India?
Let me take the specific case of Old Mahabalipuram Road in
Chennai. A stretch of some 20 km from Madhya Kailash to Siruseri, this road
caters more than two lakh IT employees in one direction daily. Since all the
people are packed in a two hour window, this road is a perfect recipe for a
pile up. The real problem in India with regard to traffic is, not following of
rules, precedence and trying to fit in wherever there is space. There are
umpteen number of examples on this single road as to how mad things can be.
The junction at Sholinganallur is one of the busiest in
Chennai. To tackle the rush, they created one ways and split the junction into
three individual traffic signals – there is no right turn across the signal.
This is a good takeaway anywhere in India.
Trying to make a list of all the things which are
wrong/which can be corrected –
1.
There are too many feeders from the service
lanes. Because of this, people tend to bypass the rush or even signals by
entering the service roads defeating their purpose. There are cases where
accidents happened when vehicles zipping on the main road crashed into those
coming out of the service road without concern for anyone. Solution – Reduce the
number of feeders from the main road to service roads. Openings should be
provided every kilometre or so, but not less than that. Another thing which can
happen is, anyone travelling on the service road across a feeder should be
fined. After all, service roads are to facilitate people who are stuck on the
wrong side of the road/who need to travel on the wrong side of the road and not
to be used as transit roads.
2.
There are cases where service roads are
discontinuous. Though illegal, this forces people to travel in the wrong
direction on the main road.
3.
Implement pedestrian crossing signals to ensure
that the hassle of crossing roads, especially near major offices is reduced
4.
Vehicles, especially buses and mini buses switch
two lanes in fraction of seconds without giving any indication to those who are
in the back. All vehicles, especially four wheelers, should be fined for doing
such.
5.
No one is supposed to overtake from the wrong side.
But, it always happens. How many times have we not seen people trying to getting
down of a bus and a person trying to force his way through them on a bike, not
giving them a chance to get down? This is because of education, safety and
sense of urgency. Many people don’t know that one should not overtake from the
left in India. That single act forces the driver to focus on both the directions
there by increasing the chance of an accident. To avoid this, two wheelers
generally try to drive near to the divider. In that case, at least, there won’t
be any overtakes from the right.
6.
Regulation of private mass transit. Can seven
seater autos be allowed onto these roads? Instead of paying the toll charges,
we see them attempting to squeak through the two wheeler lanes. The best way to
tackle them is impound and auction. Else, they will never listen.
7.
Two wheeler lanes in a toll gate should be in
the end of the road, not in the centre. Because of a bus attempting to decide
which lane to take, shuffling between lanes, we see that there are sufficient
vehicles stuck in the back, even if their lane is vacant
8.
Dedicated bus lanes for MTC buses only. Any
private bus, if they want to use that lane, should pay a monthly subscription
on a per bus basis. Any other using that lane should be fined.
9.
No private mass transit vehicle is supposed to
stop within a specified distance from a bus stop.
10. More
number of bridges between ECR and OMR. This will allow the a better load sharing.
The main thing here is better monitoring. There should be an
increased number of CCTVs on the roads which the police can use real time to
catch hold of the errants – over speeding, lane change without indications,
using service roads as main roads etc. The thing needed is a road where traffic
flows smoothly, not where people are forced to watch out as if they are in a
war zone.
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