As I walk through the roads of Chennai, I wonder why there is a complete commotion of vehicles and we have gotten used to call this as traffic. Is this really traffic? No. It is a chaos created by each and every individual using the public road with their quest to reach their destination just 5 mins early. What is the real cause of this traffic and who is to be blamed for this? This question will invoke a variety of answers from each citizen of the state and most of the answers would be related to politics, traffic controls in the city and inefficiency of the personnel deployed to monitor and control the traffic. But, are those the real reasons? No. In a city which has a population of more than 4.5 mil with a density of more than 27,000, rulers of the state, traffic controls and traffic control personnel cannot help the situation without help from every individual using the roads, and it makes me think that all that is needed to clean this mess is Self Discipline. Is it not possible or is it a crime for the vehicles to go in straight lanes, and will it not help the situation? Whenever I talk to my Colleagues and friends regarding the traffic(or should I say road-disorder) I’m told that you need to drive this way in Chennai. If you think about doing it right, then you can’t survive on these roads. I have a difficult time accepting this, I will reach 5~10 mins to the destination if I follow the crowd, I will reach safe by doing it right(oops! maybe not because there are 100s of vehicles on the road which goes in every direction and has 200% chances of hitting me). I thought education is supposed to make people think, but all we think while we are on the road is whether my vehicle can get in the narrow space and we always have a good reason for this thought process – if he can do it, why can’t I?. It’s true that we need to grab the opportunities as soon as you see it, I’m not sure if we see it all paths of life, but we certainly seem to be doing it on the road. I understand that there are times when you need to reach the destination urgently but cannot be the case for every single person on the road, and even that cannot be as critical as an ambulance which cannot find path in most cases and get stuck in the traffic.

I read somewhere that the literacy rate of Chennai is close to 85% which baffles me more as education has not been able to instill self-discipline in them. We have moral science subjects in school, I personally feel we should make ‘Social Responsibility’ and ‘Self-Discipline’ as mandatory subjects from Junior level to Senior level and of course with exams(unless we have these, teachers, parents and students don’t take care to touch those subjects). If this is not done, with the increase in population and ever increasing vehicles with increasing power(thanks to foreign investments in the auto sector), we will soon need to wear body masks to stay safe on the road.

Roads that we travel do not help the cause with all the speed barriers and the deep potholes(I feel like going in a ride when I travel on these roads – already I’m scared of those things) that you cannot travel in a straight lane. However, can that be an excuse for all the zig-zag driving and traffic violation that happens on the roads?

I’m sure that this state of affairs is not just specific to Chennai, and will be the same story all over this country. Maybe we need someone to start fast-until-die to make people think, but since the target audience is so huge, he will probably be ignored, to rest in peace.

Are these too much to ask?

1. Go in a lane(indicate while moving into someone else’ lane)

   
   




2. Signal when you change lanes

   
   




3. Wait an extra minute for the person crossing on the road. – Let the person cross the road without the fear of getting hit.

   
   




4. Stop using the honk every single minute(just for the fun of it) – I can’t understand the reason someone has to honk at me when I’m walking in the opposite direction facing him.

   
   




5. Last but not the least, respect the signal a little(at least for the money you have paid out of your pocket to install them). I don’t think there’s any harm in doing this in fact will ensure nobody is harmed.

   
   

In my opinion, little bit of self-discipline from every individual can help achieve a better future on the roads. And once the ‘self-disciplined’ leaders grow in numbers, followers will soon start following. Of course, this does not solve the actual ‘traffic’ on the road caused by the narrowing roads and increasing vehicles, but at-least will be in an orderly fashion(dream big?) and will be easier to resolve the traffic.

When I read through what I have penned here, I felt like I have no good things to say and gone on a rampage just accusing everyone, but I just want to be honest about what I feel when I see what I see, and after all it’s my fellow countrymen that I’m blaming. I’m part of this community and have a right to say what’s wrong and try to play my part in fixing it. Ah well I think, that’s enough!

CHENNAI THINK! INDIA THINK! BUT ACT THIS TIME WITHOUT JUST GOSSIPING ABOUT IT.

P.S: I hope I can survive on the roads with my ideologies without hurting me or my ideology in the long run. - Voice of your subconscious mind

Note: Please ignore any inaccuracies in the data provided in my article, it was my best effort in googling.