HOT TOPICS

SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES

A lot of talk - little to show for

89

Written By s_yajaman - 30 November, 2007

Traffic Bangalore BTRAC

Over the past few months I have read a number of announcements by the traffic police on how they are going to improve things, I really have not seen much progress A drive in most parts of Bangalore after 10:00 will tell you how bad the state of things is. When I take an auto to the City station, most people don't just care about the traffic lights - even the ones at busy junctions like Town Hall, Hudson church, KG Road. It is one big free-for-all. Contrast this with neighbouring Madras where the majority follows lights (I was shocked when people actually stopped for a pedestrian crossing signal(not at a junction) on Mount Road). Coming to the talk and no action - First they claimed that Blackberrys would solve the problem. I have not heard much about that. The latest excuse was that out of town vehicles were not covered. How many of those are there? Less than 1%. So what stops them from using it on the habitual local offenders? Then BTRAC with 1000 traffic lights, signage, variable message signs. What happened to this? There still is no signage on the famous"scissor" flyover indicating the need to cross over. There is still no traffic light on the busy KH Road/Siddaiah Road junction. Then I read that some new medians would be put up. What happened there? Then variable timers for lights which would depend on the volume of traffic. What happened? In all this enforcement is not mentioned. Technology is only as good as the underlying processes. I don;t know if traffic lights along even one corridor has been synchronizes. I just wrote this morning on my experience on JC Road. Stopped at Minerva, then Siddaiah Road, then Shivaji talkies, then Town Hall and then Unity building. Contrast this with Mount Road in Madras. I don't blame the rank and file policemen. Theirs is an unenviable job. Imagine standing at lights and directing traffic through the heat and rain and dust and smoke and noise. The leadership is to blame. They don't seem to care. I hear New Delhi is a much improved city after the police has cracked the whip. When will they do it here? How many people need to die each day before they act? Srivathsa

COMMENTS

sync signals

tsubba - 4 December, 2007 - 01:09

sri, talking of sync signals ... http://youtube.com/watch?v=3fqyeHbqzcc

wrong way

tsubba - 4 December, 2007 - 03:08

see these to get started with tyre puncturing spikes, tire puncturing spikes no. 1 tire puncturing spikes no. 2 these can be embedded within the roads. even if they protrude, they act like speed breakers, that too right after signal. so will not effect speed. these tyre puncturing spikes will cost about 30,000 - 40,000rs if imported, if we can get some company in peenya to do the same, it will prolly be around 10,000 rs. say you have to service/replace them every 3-5 years. still cheaper than hiring extra policeman for the job.

I love this device

s_yajaman - 4 December, 2007 - 03:44

Tarle, Brute force works!!! :) I remember having sent something similar to SB a few months back, but did not have the cost estimates. Key issues are a. Signage at every entry point that such a device is there needs to be put. Else you will have one joker who risked the one way and has a set of punctured tyres blocking the traffic for the next 24 hours. Not entirely bad as the rest of the people will get the message. You have captured this point. b. Ensure that it cannot be taken out. Medians put up by the BCP seem to be easy to take out. The stones are then just thrown to the side posing one hell of a danger to life and limb of a motorist. c. Resurfacing roads. d. For the first few months needs patrolling to ensure no one tampers. Else we will find a bigger mess than today's. Srivathsa

Wrong way Guard Spikes on Thoroughfares

Naveen - 4 December, 2007 - 03:44

TS - Great Idea. However, I have never seen these systems in use on main thoroughfares in USA or anywhere else. They are usually confined to car park entries /exits, etc where loads are very light, but as you have suggested, they can be sourced locally & made heavier & adaptable to our conditions. With the previous histories of tampering on fences /barricades & road medians, this system may also be meddled with, but it's worth a try.

lagging behind

silkboard - 3 December, 2007 - 09:57

without investments on enforcement, each new flyover, each new hard-median and widened road is increasing the gap that exists between the need and levels of enforcement. Hard medians are a good case study. 2 things stand out in what I have observed of BBMP's new found zeal for hard-medians: 1) Lack of enforcement 'encourages' more people to drive on the wrong sides to 'save' on U-turns. Or, some of them just get together and take the brick laid medians apart. 2) Hard median means fixed lane width in each direction. Illegal parking becomes a bigger choke now, because 2 lanes would effectively become 1.5. So, without enforcement, hard medians have actually ended up slowing down traffic, thanks to our careless parking habits. Does someone have numbers on Bangalore Traffic Police's budgets? Wonder if they get incrementally more resources (as in people and tools) each time a road gets median'ed, widened or flyover'ed.

PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES

Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!