I had the previlige of being stuck in traffic for 3 hrs flat. First I thought it might be because of the repair and expansion work going on everywhere. It didnt take me much time to realize that it was stuck because of lack of traffic sense in the drivers. It was raining like crazy and no Cop was there to handle the traffic. It was a long weekend and almost everybody wanted to go home early, and a lot had planned to go to their native. So that added to the mess.
The traffic just stood there. Koramangala first block ORR junction was the cause of Jam, I think. 8 lanes of traffic going towards the 1st block and not even a single lane for traffic coming out. Even the service lanes on both sides was full of traffic.
Finally the cops came and they had to start at the end. They had to clear out 2 lanes of traffic by forcing vehicles to go back. It was fun to see those vehicles going on the reverse all the way back.
What advantage does it give in rushing to get a few meters advantage over the other vehicle. Do we think that the “others” waiting in the correct lanes are fools when we drive on the opposite lane instead of waiting. When are we going to learn that a little bit of discipline helps in all of us reaching home early. When are we going to learn that blocking the intersections only leads to Traffic Jams.
Siting there in the middle of traffic my thoughts drifted to why we are in this situation….
Why there are Jams??
1) The most recurring condition for Jam is that we drive in the opposite lane without giving way for the oncoming vehicle.
2) The second biggest reason is that we block intersections without giving way. The road on the otherside will be totally empty and we cannot move forward, but still we will not let others pass through.
3) We take advantage of the fact that if you act aggressive the other person usually let you get away, and insert our vehicles even when there is not enough space between vehicles.
4) Two wheeler friends and autorickshaw drivers think that if they can push their front wheels, they can get the entire vehicle through, even if its a mouse hole. And they have started driving on what ever was left in the name of pavements.
5) The irresponsible civic works that dig up the roads and let it be for days and weeks.
There has been several initiatives in the past and recent past to get something done in this direction. Cabs started sporting stickers saying “if the driver is found driving rash or negligent, please call xxxxxxx”. There was a recent attempt to distribute phamplets about traffic lane disipline.
None of them seems to work why? It has to do with the crowd mentality that Indians sport. If one does, it is a mistake, if several do, its wrong. If a lot of people do, it becomes the norm. Thats what we do, a mistake has become the norm now.
The traffic police is in my opinion leanly staffed. Several critical signals are manned by a lone person. We all know that and in peak hours we take advantage of that, we voilate traffic rules right in front of their eyes. We drive even if it shows RED.
We all know the wrongs that are happening, but how to set it right. I believe that it has to be a 2 pronged approach. We need to have hard rules and soft rules. Let me explain. The soft rules are ones that we have to educate the public about and in principle everybody follows it. These are similar to principles like “eat with your right hand”, “give respect to elders”. People adhering to soft rules must be rewarded. Hard rules are stict enforcements and come with punishments.
Ok, the soft rules first.
1) If you stay close to your work place, go to work and be back home early. You may ask why. Simple, people leaving far way will also leave early, but they would reach your place (and hence the work place) later. If you also start late, you just add to the traffic. For instance, people living in koramangala and working ORR or IRR must reach work before 9am. So that when people living far and using these roads to reach work will find lesser traffic when they reach the ring roads.
2) Follow lanes. If you need to take a right, keep to the right most lane. Dont cut across all lanes from one end to the other end.
3) Pavements are for walking do not drive or park on them
4) Car pool as much as possible. Organizations should reward employees that use car pool to commute.
5) Employ auto rickshaw drivers in traffic management. Most of the time they are just sitting and waiting for their “kill”. Instead this will give them an additional income and also instill discipline in them
6) Put the stickers about negligent or rash driving inside the cab for the occupants to read and act on !!
7) A study can be conducted with the help of mobile phone operators to understand the flow of traffic at different times and plan the roads according to that. Cellphone handoffs from one cell to another cell along with the number of subscribers moving could give a fair idea, I hope.
The hard rules
1) Traffic cops should be empowered to disfigure vehicles violating rules and not following lane discipline. Disfiguring could be as simple as breaking the glass or puncturing or spray painting to create a mess. This I think will be effective during peak hours
2) Ban lorry traffic on any ring road between 830am and 1130am
3) Citizens must be able to complain the registration number of offenders with a simple SMS service. The system should track the no of offenses based on number plate to locate chronic offenders. If such a system could be put to place, I think there will be enough basis to act on erring drivers.
Lot of roads are being expanded, but we would still endup living in the same situation.
Do I see the traffic moving? Oh yeah, after the 2 lanes have been cleared the traffic on one side has been flowing smoothly for nearly 30 minutes as all the blocks within the city was getting cleared. Now my lane has started moving, my thoughts drift away to what I need to pack for my own trip over the long weekend.
Oh btw, Happy Independence Day !
