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Entropy on roads - examples
Written By silkboard - 28 August, 2008
Traffic Bangalore Congestion byelaws Analysis Enforcement entropy Transportation Traffic jams
Entropy, aka chaos on the roads is a subject we have discussed a lot here. There are about a hundred comments thrown across various posts. How about consolidating those points and making them more presentable via picture posts? Here is my attempt with pictures over last two months. Look, we need to explain and understand one thing very clearly. Flyovers and road widening projects are like buying extra large clothes to deal with obesity. Some folks prefer exercises or medicines to shed some fat.
Double parked car blocking my progress? Perhaps not this vehicle's fault, because all but one of the newly built commercial/superstore complexes have consumed basements for causes other than parking.
A narrow side road made challenging by the army of parked cars? Reason - a nearby hospital (not shown) expanded without planning for parking spaces.
[flickr-photo:id=2804462215,size=m][flickr-photo:id=2805310984,size=m]
Construction material on the road. Its common to see these consume pavements. But on the outskirts, you would see these spill on to the road as well. When construction material can't be made to fit inside the plot, that kind of tells you the builder is playing games with the setback norms. But what can you and me do - nothing, as BBMP doesn't have a complaints or tip-off mechanism.
Custom cuts are the "in things" wherever BBMP has done half ass job of erecting medians. These are the favorite U-turn points for autos and bikers. And as a result, a not so favorite "brake points" for those who hate disorder on roads.
[flickr-photo:id=2805311136,size=m][flickr-photo:id=2805355680,size=m]
Bloody pedestrians, why do they "spill" on to the road!? Patience my dear. Pavements are consumed by parked cars, encroachments, widened roads, garbage or construction debris. Where the hell do we walk? And all you car drivers, remember this. You too play pedestrians once you get down from your chariots. And these very same reasons (no walking space) make you search for parking as close to your destination as possible. So easy on pedestrians, please.
Ah, the deadly humps of our city. See a past satirical take here (belly hunters ...). Rains makes things worse, we just have more sine-wave humps, rattle therapists etc in July and August. Just ran into a broken down Zen at one of these this morning, couldn't click a picture though, sorry.
Whats left? Ah, those men at work. No warning signs, nothing, to watch ahead is your job. It was too hard to click those women sweeping roads in live traffic without wearing transparent jackets or warning signs, but I bet you have seen them.
[flickr-photo:id=2805310650,size=m][flickr-photo:id=2564730926,size=m]
[flickr-photo:id=2804461743,size=m][flickr-photo:id=2563935215,size=m]
[flickr-photo:id=2103874500,size=m][flickr-photo:id=2752585338,size=m]
What else then? "braking reasons" that I haven't clicked are:
- Bus stands - we need them, a bus has every right to use the edge of the road to drop passengers, you better wait behind them.
- Blocked on free left turns - this is regular traffic, can't expect to fly through free lefts as some yellow plate vehicles do.
- Slow moving trucks - These folks do the speed, keep themselves within the limits. If only we all would do the same, we will all get to our destinations quicker than we do.
So bring them on, you favorite braking reasons, or pictures on above lines. And lets show everyone that before we think flyovers and wider roads, there is a lot of basic work to do to manage our roads and traffic.
[PS: I use my E61i as a camera more than a phone. I suggest you try to click a picture every time you brake on the road. Share your notes, and help us understand the futility of flyovers, or road widening, because we must realize that there are at least 4-5 low hanging fruits - all of those tied to enforcement - that can give us results in just a few months.]
COMMENTS
idontspam - 28 August, 2008 - 06:42
Thank you for starting the thread...
Turn lanes for right turns are an important concept in road design. IRC has done lipservice to this concept in their specs
IRC 86-1983: Minimum widths of median at intersections to accomplish various purposes should be as follows : (i) Pedestrian refuge, 1.2 m; (ii) Median lane for protection of vehicle making right turn, 4,0 m but 7.5 m is recommended;
(iii) 9 to 12 metre is required to protect vehicles crossing at grade.
So turn lanes should be made a feature on Bangalore streets. I hoope the junction redesign projects are taking this into account.
s_yajaman - 28 August, 2008 - 06:45
One thing that I have observed in Bangalore is the low throughput of vehicles once the lights turn green. Major reasons
a. Just turned red vehicles don't stop and want to sneak through. Block the road for 5-10 secs.
b. People not waiting in the correct lanes and then start shifting lanes, slowing down traffic.
c. 4-5 waiting lanes = 6-7 vehicle lanes (JC Road /Town Hall Jn towards corporation) merge into 2 or 3 lanes. Happens at Richmond Circle too - when you come from Mallya hospital and want to turn right towards Double Road. Add to that - we have a bus stop at that very corner!!!
Srivathsa
Sharing some funny & interesting media
Ravi_D - 28 August, 2008 - 07:55
Couldn't help look at some of my archives... All from public domain, and credits go to the original authors!
This one is funny, not from Bangalore, but would it be any different here?
This is a fairly long video - a pretty good travelogue - Old Madras Road / KR Puram Jam
A good way to analyze traffic patterns, in my mind. See this birds-eye-view from one our junctions.
From an unknown source (chain email):
--------------------------
Over these last few years of living in Bangalore , I have slowly grown to like the jams, which this city provides in abundance.
These jams do build your patience and character. Is it a coincidence that India 's most patient cricketers, Dravid and Kumble, hail from this city of jams? (Dravid is even nicknamed "Jammy"). Does it tell you something? Sri Sri Ravishankar…does he get his daily dose of spiritual inspiration while in a jam?? And will I also get a halo after a few more years of this "character building"?? There are, I am sure, thousands of future Anands stuck in the Adugodis and Anand Rao circles, who are plotting their moves against future Kramniks… those poor little Kramniks stand no chance. And if you see a professor-like guy prancing around the Palace road jam, you can deduce that a postulate in Physics has just been proved.
A few days back, I had a thought - If we can have reviews of movies, which occupy only a few hours of our life in a month, why not reviews of traffic jams, which takes up significant hours of our day?? So here is my review of some of Bangalore 's famous and not-so-famous jams(in no particular order).
But before that, a general comment - As they say, the taste of food in a restaurant is dependent on the ambience ; similarly, the way I see jams, cozy inside the office shuttle or public transport, is different from the way the owner of the swank new SUV sees it. (btw, if you are the owner of the swank new SUV, don't run me down).
1. The Hosur Road Jam - Unarguably, the mother of all jams. We (ex-) Infoscions are proud of being (once) associated with a great company. We are equally proud of contributing in no small extent to this jam. This jam gives a great glimpse of the Other India - colorful music-blaring interstate buses, garment factory workers, highway trucks, smoke spewing lorries and such. Provides ample food for thought for socialist minds. (Rating: ***1/2)
2. The jams around K'mangala/Forum mall - Definitely the best jams in town. PYTs (Pretty young things), fancy cars, and fancy restaurants; this has it all. But you can't afford any of those. Never mind!! Your sadistic brain can take pleasure in the fact that the guy in the fancy car next to you is cruising around for a parking space, feasting his eyes on the PYTs , while his family is having dinner in one of the fancy restaurants. (Rating: ****1/2)
3. The KG Road jam - To be experienced in the evenings before a long weekend. Every auto/taxi in town seems to be stuck while going towards the City railway station - your hair stands on end, you start sweating, the heart beats faster, and you get the rush that a Michael Schumachaer gets on his last lap. And just as the auto moves, a movie show ends and a few hundred more vehicles pour out… Which was the train that hooted just now?? (Rating: ***1/2)
4. The Jayanagar jam - The puzzle-lovers jam; Jayanagar is maze of bylanes, one-way streets, no right-turns, no left-turns, traffic signals and whatnot. It is an establised fact that Point A to point B, in Jayanagar, can be reached in 6436 distinct ways. But whichever way you take, you are left with a hollow feeling that another route had a better and bigger jam? (Rating: **1/2)
5. The jams around Marathahalli/ Whitefield - The IT professional' s dream jam; As she sits in the office shuttle looking at other office buses, she can make her career plans. A typical evening in this jam goes thus: Voice from Company A bus : "Any J2EE developers in your bus?". Three guys from Company B bus respond "Yeah" and get down. By the time, the bus crosses the Marathahalli bridge, the first guy is hired as a J2EE developer. The second guy, who didn't know what J2EE meant, is hired as a project manager and the third guy is rejected as he realised late that he has already worked for Company A last year. (Rating: ****)
6. The Airport Road jam - Similar in taste and character like the Koramangala jam but has socialist twist. This jam treats the rich businessman, who will later travel business class on Jet, the same as a poor programmer, who had unusually come to office early in the morning, 3 months back, to buy one of those cheap airline tickets. (Rating ***)
7. The BTM 7th Main x 7 Cross jam - Close to my home, so close to my heart. But alas, the spoilsports at BDA finished the flyover at the Jayadeva circle and brought an end to this jam. But for a couple of years, this jam used to give me pure joy as vehicles of all types created a tangle in the small bylanes of BTM layout. The BDA is now planning a new flyover at the Udupi Garden junction; so there is still hope (Rating ***1/2).
We jam lovers - currently this club consists of only me - have petitioned the government to protect and preserve traffic jams as a cultural asset of Bangalore . Just so that traffic jams are not endangered in the future, we have these suggestions:
1. Build more flyovers - Flyovers do not reduce jams. They just transfer it to the next junction. And in the 2 years that it takes to build them, you are assured of some joyous jams. I am drooling...
2. No public buses - If everybody goes by buses, where will our culture go?
3. Make Tata's 1-Lakh car cheaper by making it tax free - Imagine every two wheeler replaced by a car...The prospects are mouth-watering.
( Author Unknown )
idontspam - 29 August, 2008 - 03:11
Bidari warns severe action against vandelisers
BANGALORE: Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari on Thursday, said that a number of advertisements had appeared on traffic signals and sign boards without any permission from the authorities concerned. This defacement of police property is a serious issue and causes distraction to the traffic flow.
Following this, the police authorities have warned severe action against the public who damage, vandalise and deface traffic signages.
shas3n - 2 September, 2008 - 13:29
The video on this blogpost shows the state of footpath on CMH road. When there is practically no space for pedestrians to walk on the foot paths, what else can we expect? Of course there are also a lot of parked vehicles as well. Watch the video.
-Shastri
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