3 Jun 2005
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The lastest fad of GUG the super traffic cop of Chennai & his mates is to erect 50feet tall tree-top shelters on roads, put a cop with loudspeaker to sit up- there and preach on good habits than mind the unruly traffic on ground. Should they not be using the shining Qualis, Amma had given them, to go to trouble spot and relieve, rather than parking them away in shade, for the pot-bellied senior cop in pax seat to snore away to glory??!
20 Apr 2005!
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Refer previous post (oct 2004) below!! Another 6 months have passed since. Chennai Traffic cops dont disappoint you - they have come up with another goodie - alas yet again bad implementation.
They have installed on a trial basis, battery operated (possibly solar) median reflectors. It is a great idea that can prevent accidents at night.
The always-poor-when-it-comes-to-implementation part is that in an already reduced width driving lanes (thanks to excessive 2’6’’ wide medians), these reflectors are planted on the road a good further 1 feet into the driving lane.
One cannot understand the rationale of this stupid positioning, severely curtailing the driving lane - obviously the driver on this lane, at night will drive avoiding this line of yellow reflectors, which due their positioning automatically means the vehicle encroaching on to the next outer lane, thereby introducing a new accident prone situations. Why can it not be laid close to the divider?!
By the way, guess where these reflectors are on trial in Chennai? You guessed it right, on Radhakrishnan Salai, frequented by Amma! Sure enough, GUG Sastry, the Chief traffic cop of Chennai knows very well, which side of the bread is buttered. I suppose it is a good strategy to get the attention of ’I did everything to the people; no one else ever did anything to the people’ Amma so that the implementation goes on smoothly to the rest of the city main roads!
Previous post: Oct 11, 2004:
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Mr GUG Sastry the Traffic Police Commissioner came up with an innovative idea to paint pot holes yellow, to alert drivers, in particular motorcyclists at night! This was a few months ago.
It was a wonderful idea to both warn and highlight the shoddy Municipal Corporation service by Councilors, that is when they are are not throwing chappals at the opposing camp’s Councilor, which by the way is very common be it Amma’s followers or Appa’s followers!
Anyway, back to GUG; he found the going tough that the rate at which pot holes were coming up were more than the rate at which he could paint! So Mr GUG gives up and is busy these days painting multiple lane markings on the yuppy Radhakrishnan Salai, the in-place of Chennai!
Wonder when will the Traffic Engineers of Chennai Traffic police make up their mind to draw the final 4 lane marking of the hardly 80 feet road but busy one! Few more confusing markings they could nearly have the road painted all white.
May be Amma travels so frequently on this road, that Mr GUG want to show that he is at work and is busy painting one more wrong divider, so that he can attempt to correct it by repainting it, next week!!
Talking of Traffic Engineering, this is one city where at best their function is absent if they are not causing confusion! Great jokers, along with Municipal authorities came up with the incorrigible solution for ’improper parking’ of cars - half on road, half on platform denying platform space for pedestrians.
Now all over Chennai, platforms are an incredible 18 inch tall. As a result, neither pedestrians nor cars use it. Both use the road, adding to the already dangerous condition for both.
ie pedestrians walk on the road as they cant climb up and down every 10 feet on to the 18 inch high platforms, laid in between 10feet ground level cut-outs for residential plots’ entry. Now, the cars park blocking the full driving lane, indeed illegally, as before, leaving no room for other drivers.
Looks like this is a futuristic idea of innovative Chennai Traffic cops, to increase their revenue rather than aid the pedestrians or motorists! Afterall, if no one is using the raised platform, sooner than later, it will be an invite for hawkers to set up shops, so that the Chennai Traffic cops can come around once a week and collect hafta and dutifully pass it up the rank, after taking their share.
After all, they have been diligently addressing the menace of hawkers on foot path for decades & a permanent solution is indeed difficult to find, without compromising on their revenue (mamool).
Talking of Revenue, invite visitors to city to spare a week and visit the busy GN Chetty road, Venkatnarayana Road and Dhandapani St, all in T Nagar - almost 3 parallel arteries leading to the busy shopping centre of city.
On any given day, bunch of traffic cops can be seen ’disciplining’ motorcyclists on one of these roads. While a Senior cop in a bike issues diligently chits to one in 10 ’offenders’ allowed to reach him, the other 9, hardly few meters away are let go after paying anywhere from Rs20 to Rs50, ofcourse without receipt, for any offence spotted or so challenged by the diligent cop, obviously not without the connivance of the super cops on duty on the beat or at the station!!!
The zeal to ’regulate’ proper road usage is doubled particularly at month end. Rest of Chennai traffic cops dont let you down either - go to the busy Chennai Central or Egmore Railway station, opposite Spencer Plaza and such other busy spots, to see the ’revenue’ mobilisation at work!!
Given all these busy schedule, I guess these guys dont have any time to supervise the construction of road medians, that are at the least 2 1/2 feet wide, hardly leaving any space for the two lane traffic on either side. Cant they make these medians a max of only 9inches wide, given our already narrow roads & still be effective, as do the Traffic Engineering conscious Bangalore cops?!
Nope - there hardly is any time left, to do any job proper, for Chennai traffic cops, after all their energy is spent in ’revenue’ management & painting lane dividers perpetually wrong, to catch Amma’s eyes?!!!
By the way, after years of tendering (as in request-for-quotations), the Chennai Traffic cops have come up with fairly decent and more importantly visible traffic signals, with timers. Again, Bangalore takes the cake for its quality, finish and uniformity across the city & suburbs! Back to Chennai; however, the timers show the seconds left once the traffic light becomes green - a perfect invite for the average already-unruly-driver to attempt to jump the signal, before it turns red.
Our Jhonny when he is 100 meters to the green signal, sees that there are only 2 seconds left & accelerates menacingly, unmindful of near nil visibility beyond the signal or the waiting traffic at the cross roads that is ready to pounce on to the junction when their turn comes, soon enough. Thanks to ingenuity of Chennai Traffic cops, to keep the timer on even in ’green’, they have definitely aided an increase in grievous accidents at junctions!
Yet another example of poorly implemented toy that pea-brain Chennai Traffic cops have come up with, that is assured to increase the accident rate, particularly of two-wheelers. (by the way GUG came out in newspapers that these cost a few crores, for only, as few as, less than a 100 signals in the city - someone surely has become rich within the Noble force!).
Wonder what is the next innovation to roll-out of Chennai Traffic Cop’s stable, when they are not minding their ’revenue’!!!