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BTRAC and the road signs scam
Written By silkboard - 8 December, 2008
Traffic Bangalore BTRAC Citizen Reports signs IRC
Tune your mind to observe traffic signs in the city, and you'd notice a few things. One, BTRAC project is busy putting up a lot of new ones. Two, perhaps they needn't have spent taxpayer's money on putting them up. Three, sorry Mr Sood, BTRAC may not be doing the best that it can.
Standard and consistency matter the most. There is problem on two counts there. 1) A lot of existing signs convey the message in their own colors and styles. BTRAC must remove or correct them, or else the point gets lost in the crowd 2) Nitpicking on new BTRAC signs, perhaps the traffic police themselves are not being consistent. See these speed breaker signs: style 1, style 2, and both of them together as well at same place (airport road, near HAL)! Elsewhere in the city as well, one can easily find road hump signs in either of styles bearing BTRAC name.
[flickr-photo:id=3092013273,size=m][flickr-photo:id=3092002365,size=m]
Parking signs need standards - should that 'distance' arrow be vertical or horizontal? Do I really have to get close enough to read the distance covered by a no-parking sign? Or can we get standard no-parking boards to convey 100ft, 300ft, 500 ft no-parking zones.
[flickr-photo:id=3092008283,size=m][flickr-photo:id=3092845654,size=m]
BTW, some no parking signs say meters, most mention the distance in feet. And better not go into the much more important, but a very fine aspect of traffic signs - you need to place them consistently, say always at x meters above road level, and y meters before a point of interest so that we start "expecting" as opposed to "finding" them. That does not seem to be the case.
Another point is about the PPP angle. What are all those "sponsored" signs doing in the city? PPP or no PPP, many of these seem too blatant and bad. In many cases, the advertising is far more visible than the traffic message itself. In fact, some new ones even carry BBMP or BTP (Bangalore Traffic Police) logos to impress upon you that they are genuine! Are they!? I doubt.
[flickr-photo:id=3092843074,size=m][flickr-photo:id=3092001309,size=m]
Does anyone else in the city think that "Prakash packers and movers" have spent more on road signs than the Traffic Police themselves? I do.
[flickr-photo:id=3092015467,size=m][flickr-photo:id=3092014361,size=m]
Presence of so many "sponsored signs" tells you that one of these is true:
- Traffic Police has little control, they are not capable of preventing these from mushrooming up. Or are they making money on by 'allowing' them?
- Perhaps, there already exists a PPP mechanism for local business to put up road signs. Then, could it be that BTRAC is simply wasting money on putting up new road signs? Why not just ensure that these "micro PPP" initiatives follow standards prescribed by the police?
Either way, I am very disappointed. I for one believe in the signs - they are like TV ads, constantly pushing the message, working and on your mind and making you feel guilty every time you break the rules. But just like branding products in commercial ads, there needs to be consistency of style and message.
Someone needs to question and audit BTRAC, at least the signs part of it. A project that got us so excited may be losing its way.
COMMENTS
narayan82 - 9 December, 2008 - 04:10
Yes Pranav, this is a very bad example of money well spent!
If I am not mistaken, BTRAC signs was a 40 crore tender!!! With 40 crores, surelt we could have got some better signs.
I have seen these new signs come up at all angles hieights and locations! No thought has gone it into putting them in visible places, and a visible height and with some considerations to the surroundings. It seems like something done "Naam ke Vaastay!"
Signage in the city is HORRIBLE! And to hear that more than 10 crores is spent on it every year, is very very sad to hear. The money clearly is going somewhere else.
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
asj - 8 December, 2008 - 15:34
Take a look at this (award winning compilation by Ganesh Gaikwad) - http://gaikwadgv.googlepages.com/TrafficSignageinPuneV2_ScreenComp.pdf
In contrast here is something from UK streets.
- Signs are illuminated by the street light
- By co-locating bus stops and street lighting where possible bus stops do not need additional lighting (or it is minimised).
- Clutter of poles and street furniture is drastically reduced.
- Cost savings by not having to spend on material as well as reduced expense on additional lighting and overall maintainance
Once again, total ignorance of IRC norms on signage is blatantly obvious.
ASJ
silkboard - 9 December, 2008 - 03:36
For some reason, bus stands get the worst attention on signage. Adhoc looking signs at a lot of places, good signs only on major roads, but even there, you need more than a sign to let everyone know that there is a bus stand nearby. You need bright lane markings, a no-parking board, "fine doubled in bus zone" sort of thing - basically heavy signage to make sure people take care not to stop or do anything near bus stands.
Could it be that BTRAC is not interested in doing bus stand signs? Police may be leaving that job to BMTC, and perhaps BMTC back to BBMP. The usual circle of blame you know.
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