TRAFFIC SNARLS IN CHENNAI
I read an article in Chennai edition of today’s “The Hindu” about the traffic snarls in Chennai and blaming the decreasing supervision and commitment of the Traffic Managers of the Police Department. There was a road user giving interview that over the years the supervision by the Traffic Managers of Chennai has been on the decline and they are no longer tough in disciplining the road users. It is more than fifty years since our country got freedom and still our citizens are ready to obey only the language of sticks and punishment. Truly sad for the country.
I do agree with the fact that the Traffic management in Chennai is quite poor mainly owing to improper planning of Traffic movement and their jobs are made difficult with inadequate signals, too many cross roads and lack of infrastructure.
But above all this, there is one major problem for which we cannot hold the Traffic police and the traffic managers responsible and that is total absence of discipline and rationality among the road users, be it the drivers of vehicle or the pedestrians who can be categorized now only as “Jay Walkers”. We find that even matured educated people acting in a totally irrational manner the moment they take out their vehicle on the road. We all know that the driving licence is issued in our country to a person only on attaining the age of 18. The main purpose of this is that only matured drivers should come to the road and normally discipline follows maturity. It is true that nowadays we find 15 and 16 year old kids driving cars. I think for this we should blame the oversmart and corrupt parents who get them the driving licence giving false age proof, and not the raffic managers. And these very parents will blame the traffic police, when their kids are involved in accidents.
Moreover just as with computerization, we find that there are lesser number of persons to do the same job and reduced supervision, in the same manner with growing traffic control amenities it is expected that the road users would follow the traffic rules and have a safe and quick journey with lesser supervision. But we find the opposite not only in Chennai, but I have seen it in Bangalore as well as Hyderabad that when the signal is about to get to red from orange, the people increase their accelerators to jump the signal. In fact, we have been thought right from school and while getting the driving licence to do the opposite. Again we see people walking on the road walk as if they are walking in a garden. They would cross the road wherever they want and they expect the speeding vehicles to stop for them, instead of the opposite. So in short we find the road users do just the opposite of what the rules have always been asking them to do.
So is it really right to blame the traffic managers for the traffic snarls in big cities. Are we as road users behaving the rational way in which we are expected to behave. Why do we think that only we are the most important person on the road and require to reach the destination in time. Instead of trying to jump traffic signals why do we not leave home a few minutes early and drive safely, both for us and others.
COME ON FRIENDS, LET US INCULCATE A SENSE OF SELF-DISCIPLINE, RATIONALITY, MATURITY AND RESPONSIBILITY IN OURSELVES. REMEMBER, IF OUR COUNTRY IS CORRUPT TODAY, IF THERE IS TRAFFIC SNARLS IN BIG CITIES EVERYDAY, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT AS IRRESPONSIBLE CITIZENS OF THE COUNTRY
I do agree with the fact that the Traffic management in Chennai is quite poor mainly owing to improper planning of Traffic movement and their jobs are made difficult with inadequate signals, too many cross roads and lack of infrastructure.
But above all this, there is one major problem for which we cannot hold the Traffic police and the traffic managers responsible and that is total absence of discipline and rationality among the road users, be it the drivers of vehicle or the pedestrians who can be categorized now only as “Jay Walkers”. We find that even matured educated people acting in a totally irrational manner the moment they take out their vehicle on the road. We all know that the driving licence is issued in our country to a person only on attaining the age of 18. The main purpose of this is that only matured drivers should come to the road and normally discipline follows maturity. It is true that nowadays we find 15 and 16 year old kids driving cars. I think for this we should blame the oversmart and corrupt parents who get them the driving licence giving false age proof, and not the raffic managers. And these very parents will blame the traffic police, when their kids are involved in accidents.
Moreover just as with computerization, we find that there are lesser number of persons to do the same job and reduced supervision, in the same manner with growing traffic control amenities it is expected that the road users would follow the traffic rules and have a safe and quick journey with lesser supervision. But we find the opposite not only in Chennai, but I have seen it in Bangalore as well as Hyderabad that when the signal is about to get to red from orange, the people increase their accelerators to jump the signal. In fact, we have been thought right from school and while getting the driving licence to do the opposite. Again we see people walking on the road walk as if they are walking in a garden. They would cross the road wherever they want and they expect the speeding vehicles to stop for them, instead of the opposite. So in short we find the road users do just the opposite of what the rules have always been asking them to do.
So is it really right to blame the traffic managers for the traffic snarls in big cities. Are we as road users behaving the rational way in which we are expected to behave. Why do we think that only we are the most important person on the road and require to reach the destination in time. Instead of trying to jump traffic signals why do we not leave home a few minutes early and drive safely, both for us and others.
COME ON FRIENDS, LET US INCULCATE A SENSE OF SELF-DISCIPLINE, RATIONALITY, MATURITY AND RESPONSIBILITY IN OURSELVES. REMEMBER, IF OUR COUNTRY IS CORRUPT TODAY, IF THERE IS TRAFFIC SNARLS IN BIG CITIES EVERYDAY, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT AS IRRESPONSIBLE CITIZENS OF THE COUNTRY
posted by hari at
1:47 PM
5 Comments:
Hi, feel free to comment. Even criticism will be taken as a compliment.
By
hari, at 1:16 AM
Do u know the two most corrupt places in our state - one is RTO and the other is the Registrar offices. It sucks.. Few months back one Tamil mag. exposed the scam by obtaining licence for 4 ppl - a State Minister, a blind person, another handicapped person & one HC Judge. Am sure that things haven't changed a bit after that.
When I arrived in UK, I was wondering how these ppl are so disciplined.. it shud come from with in. You know how difficult it is to obtain a licence.. read the below post that I made abt 3 mths back.
http://www.chakkarapani.com/main/blog/2004_07_01_blogarchive.html#108990166457485118
By
Chakra, at 2:40 AM
I agree hari, but cmon, the officials are sooooo corrupt , that people do not even consider being disciplined.Theres no point, plz tell me if the chennai auto guys will play by the rules.My dad who is 65 drives at 20Kmph an hour and he is hit at 75kmph a hour from the back by a tempo driver, the police man on the scene shrugs and says its an accident where "both" parties are not at fault - all this because the tempo guy pd the official Rs.500....Can you please tell me how we are to be model citizens when these "travel Manager" are ruining our lives??!!!..Sorry if this comment is harsh.. but lets do something abt the system, then the people will change by themselve- eg Singapore
Anu
By
Anu, at 3:55 AM
Hi Anu,
I totally agree with you that our government machinery is totally rotten with corruption. But when u say we should change the system, me, you, your father and the Tempo driver all are integral part of this system. When I was talking about change of attitude in people, it not only meant your father but also the Tempo Driver. Look here when you call the system corrupt, it is we people who helped them become corrupt. Only if all of us become more humane and think beyond ourselves, consider ourselves as integral part of this society which only reflects our own attitude, will the corruption be removed from our society and once it is done, the government machinery which forms only a miniscule part of our whole system will automatically get cleansed.
If people change then, in the incident you quoted above the tempo driver should be driving as safe as your father and in that case there would have not been an accident and we would not require the police to intervene at all and hence no scope of corruption. So if you feel there is substance in this argument, come let us make a beginning by spreading this awareness among the Indian bloggers.
By
hari, at 10:10 PM
Its got to be a movement, like our freedom struggle. it just doesn't happen overnight, will slowly but surely happen.
By
saranyan r, at 9:28 AM
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