The traffic in the Indian cities takes you by surprise and you will be scared to death particularly if you are returning from a long stay overseas.
Why the traffic is horrible in cities ?.
First of all the traffic problems are a little different from city to city.
The accidents caused by traffic behaviour are highest in Delhi.
The second highest numbers of accidents are in Bangalore according to an article I read in the ’’week’’.
A programme in Doordarshan says that of all those persons who go out in to the city everyday in Delhi six people never return.
Everyday at least two person die crushed under the electric trains in Bombay.
Poor Hyderabad (the fifth biggest) is not very good in traffic accidents because the traffic moves in Hyderabad at a snails pace. Only you will get congestion in your lungs. The much awaited death will come later.
The articles in the news magazine says that the traffic accidents are more in Delhi and Bangalore because the roads are straight and the speed of the vehicles on certain stretches of the roads is more than allowed.
The programme in Doordarshan attributes the fact to poor visibility during nights, water logging on the roads, careless turns by bicycle peddlers.
About the visibility I do agree because the bicycle fellow or scooter rider does not know how he would be visible to a truck driver until he himself sits in a truck and drives it.
The camera was kept (by doordarshan camera man) in truck and commentator started explaining. I was taken aback because a cycle taking a turn with typical swing movement was almost invisible from the truck. Why?
The reflection coming from the opposite direction is something unexpected.
Then the doordarshan put a white polyethylene jacket (sleeveless jacket) on the bicycle rider. Yes!! He was now clearly visible even when there was a lot oncoming traffic.
When we are moving on the roads on bikes or on foot we should try to understand from the visibility point of view or the traffic department keeps a rule to wear cheap polyethylene sleeve less sticker like jacket for all bike riders.
Traffic congestion is mainly caused by seven seater steering auotos and trucks in Hyderabad. According to traffic department of Hyderabad, the number of deaths to the bikers happened mainly because of head injuries.
So, the govt. banned the entry of trucks during 8 am in morning to 10pm in the night. But our Babus ( the beaurocrats) found loop holes as usual and gave exceptions to local trucks which supply brick , granite and sand to construction areas. These lorries we could easily see causing big problem. They brake and it stops 15 yards after ! And still that is how it is driven through roads. They bellow out smoke which only rail engines with coke emitted during partition days of 1947.
Still they give ’’mamools’’ (bribes) to local police on monthly basis. If you a scooter goes behind that lorry police man will stop and ask for a pollution check certificate !! . Truth is stranger than fiction !
The traffic in certain cities increased because of migration of population from villages. But these people will not bring vehicles. They are generally very poor.
The point is we are urbanizing very fast and we do not plan according to it.
For example ring roads constructed around the city encircling the city would avoid lot of traffic which goes across the city to city limits.
Construction of flyovers, construction of underground train systems ( tube trains) and construction of light rail are some of the methods which should be adopted by all the cities.
Constructing truck terminals so that trucks would stay off the city during traffic time and enter the city after 10 pm is a must.
The corrupt authorities give permissions to cinema halls right in the thick city is causing most of the traffic jam.
In the year 2004 hundreds of students could not take EAMCET exam in Hyderabad , because a minister was touring with his entourage and traffic was stopped as a security measure. When the traffic was finally released it simply jammed.
your blood boils while these students weep before the TV camera. And look at the parents on the TV screen, they looked shell shocked. Re-exam was not conducted. The minister was never questioned by the opposition. The stupid minister who might be very well uneducated might never have realized the value of education. He will eat more (public money) and go around the city.