Indian Roads Thread

[Theo_Fidel]

It is indeed major surgery to separate out the vehicle corridors from the pedestrian corridors. Not least will be much bridge and underpass construction. For instance world standard is pedestrian first. Meaning vehicle takes bridge/underpass and pedestrian walks on grade everywhere. Contrast that with our pedestrian flyovers and underpasses and you can see why it does not work in India.

But it is very much doable and is what it will take to tame our traffic. For instance in Chennai, the entire Purasawalkam High road should be lowered to create a continuous underpass. All the side streets can then become pedestrian only and have linking connection across.

Look at this Paris Street. Every bit as cluttered as India but pedestrian only.

[chaanakya]

The quality of life for *all* organisms must be improved. It includes human beings and animals. Relocating one species from any location is hardly a fair approach. .

Does *all* include Flies, Mosquitoes and Cockroaches as well??

[Gus]

For instance in Chennai, the entire Purasawalkam High road should be lowered to create a continuous underpass. All the side streets can then become pedestrian only and have linking connection across.

At the OMR road, I always see groups of people doing the 'Indian pedestrian road cross adventure' even when they are right below the pedestrian bridge. They would dare to run across the road, hop on the divider/median and run across - but won't climb up 20 steps and walk and climb down. Is cost the factor on not elevating/'under passing' the motored traffic and letting people walk on grade?

[chaanakya]

It is indeed major surgery to separate out the vehicle corridors from the pedestrian corridors. Not least will be much bridge and underpass construction. For instance world standard is pedestrian first. Meaning vehicle takes bridge/underpass and pedestrian walks on grade everywhere. Contrast that with our pedestrian flyovers and underpasses and you can see why it does not work in India.

But it is very much doable and is what it will take to tame our traffic. For instance in Chennai, the entire Purasawalkam High road should be lowered to create a continuous underpass. All the side streets can then become pedestrian only and have linking connection across.

Agree with you. This is flaw of our urban planning approach which does not give importance to Public spaces and pedestrians. In fact Frankfurt has separate markings for Cyclists and a wide pedestrian pavements. Parking for vehicles are earmarked and rarely I saw parking at wrong places. Taxi stands and Bus stands are also designated with proper shelters and ticket vending machines.

[chaanakya]

For instance in Chennai, the entire Purasawalkam High road should be lowered to create a continuous underpass. All the side streets can then become pedestrian only and have linking connection across.

At the OMR road, I always see groups of people doing the 'Indian pedestrian road cross adventure' even when they are right below the pedestrian bridge. They would dare to run across the road, hop on the divider/median and run across - but won't climb up 20 steps and walk and climb down. Is cost the factor on not elevating/'under passing' the motored traffic and letting people walk on grade?

This is not limited to India and I saw same thing in Berlin(not so on AutoBahns). The only difference was that Motorists slowed down allowing people to pass but scolding a he same time.Same courtesy was shown in Tokyo. And yes mostly pedestrians walk on the grade. In Tokyo if they have to climb then escalators are provided. I have seen in India ( some citi) where Pedestrian bridge is constructed and remained unused as one had to climb about three floors above.Also What about senior citizens and sick weak people?
Cost is not a big factor in my opinion.

[Sanku]

Purush,

I'm very certain the percentage of pedestrians and cyclists being killed is 60%+ in India. .

Theo; I posted a detailed study by a IIT Prof saying that 60%+ is indeed the case.

It also says that most of India does not really maintain detailed records of road accidents. Only a few cities like Chennai and Delhi etc do.

I agree with your comparisons with Paris etc. We can for these areas restrict the traffic to pedestrians and cycle/cycle rickshaws.

[Sanku]

Fact is Indian road habits are disgusting. Because they are rooted in ignorance of consequence and not motor skills.

No actually what is disgusting is that some Indians are unable to see how Indian road habits have evolved uniquely to handle our traffic conditions, with it challenges, and we are coping quite well even under the circumstances.

It is the US and western traffic habits which are disgusting because even with 1000x better infrastructure and lesser loads they still manage to kill each other far more than we do.

Those that equate US and Indian death rates by extrapolating populations are making very basic analytical errors..not worth arguing about.

What basic analytical error? Not to go "OMG west OMG west" type of error?

We have a very long way to go, a lot of education to impart, a lot of habits to change..before we make a difference to the slaughter on Indian roads that goes on.

We have a long way to go and lot of people need education for sure

To do the above, requires some humility and acceptance and not a torn shirt open fly response that is so sadly evident here.

Yes the "OMG west, OMG west" crowd needs to learn humility and learn that other Indians are trying to do their best in very trying circumstances and doing well.

Their sneering is misplaced. Some humility to understand India is sorely needed.

I won't change my view, i won't argue a retarded view that Indian driving habits are great and we are doing very well wrt other countries. We are doing a lousy job really.

Actually we are doing quite well, statistically speaking, and if the reality appears so offensive to you that you start calling people retarded.

You are at the wrong forum. I am sure you will find multiple places on the web where blind support of the west and running down Indian in a Pavlovian response is considered quite a cool thing.

Here, you talk nonsense, there are people who will say its nonsense. Get used to it.

[Sachin]

Since we are talking about road accidents, causes etc. and how we stand when compared to other countries. Here is a link from the Kerala Police web site which has lots of statistical information.
KP's statistics on road accidents
PS: One analysis done by KP was that in Kerala too many accidents happen due to drunken driving. And with this data & analysis they are now going hammer and tongs against the drunkards of Kerala.

[Sanku]

PS: One analysis done by KP was that in Kerala too many accidents happen due to drunken driving. And with this data & analysis they are now going hammer and tongs against the drunkards of Kerala.

Kerala and Delhi are some pockets where accurate data collection followed by action has definitely worked. (Which incidentally included removing the cows from some parts, a favorite topic of some here )

In Delhi some analysis went for a six however (mass transport good --> BRT --> which was a disaster)

[abhishek_sharma]

The quality of life for *all* organisms must be improved. It includes human beings and animals. Relocating one species from any location is hardly a fair approach. .

Does *all* include Flies, Mosquitoes and Cockroaches as well??

The point is to find out how other organisms affect us. And our response should be proportionate to their positive/negative effect on us.

If they are really dangerous for human species (like a rabies-infected dog), then it is okay to kill/quarantine them.

if we are benefiting from them (e.g, by getting milk), then we should make sure that we improve their life in some way.

So I will weaken my claim. Since flies and cockroaches spread diseases, we should do everything to keep them away from where we live. But we should not bother them if they live away from human settlements.

[harbans]

Sachin Ji from the KP site you referred these causes have been highlighted:

The main causes of the increasing death rates in the Road Accidents are:

Not knowing or not adopting correct driving habits.
Increasing number of New generation vehicles especially Two wheelers.
Aggressive driving behavior of Heavy vehicle drivers especially Private Buses & Tipper Lorries.
Drivers sleeping while driving especially of Heavy vehicles & light motor vehicles after midnight due to fatigue and other reasons.
Over speeding.
Bad condition of Roads and absence of different lanes.
Driver /Rider's ignorance of Road conditions, Road signs and the Environmental factors.
Driver /Rider's ignorance or violation of Traffic Rules.
Drunken Driving/Driving without seat belt.
Driving without Helmet.

All road users should remember that road is to be shared amongst all.

Addressing these causes firstly entails realizing that bad driving habits, less consideration for other road users is a major cause of accidents in India, as shown in various statistics. Education, stricter licensing norms, reduction of traffic speed gradients, mass transit options planned for newer suburbs and upcoming towns, better traffic management and planning, rule enforcement are urgent requirements as vehicle fleets are added probably at a faster rate than roads come up to accommodate them.

These two steps must be syncronised with each other - that is costly to drive and the alternative is a well connected and comfortable Metro/Mono rail system with good feeder bus services.

Amit Ji yes indeed mass transit and good feeder services for upcoming towns and suburbs must be included in town planning programs. Any city with more than 5 million people (Say) should have at least 2 airports to service it's requirements. In developed countries most cities the size of Delhi are serviced by 2 or more airports. Even lesser sized cities have 2 airports. IGI that services G'gaon, Delhi, Noida and beyond has probably around 20 million people or more passing through the entire city every year from one nodal point. Increasing Nodal points such as airports and railways will also have effect on reducing road traffic congestion and accident rates.

[Sanku]

Why dont the "oh so serious about traffic" people take a stab at the perhaps only complete and credible analysis of the situation that was posted by me on the thread.

Why cherry pick facts.

[Theo_Fidel]

At the OMR road, I always see groups of people doing the 'Indian pedestrian road cross adventure' even when they are right below the pedestrian bridge. They would dare to run across the road, hop on the divider/median and run across - but won't climb up 20 steps and walk and climb down. Is cost the factor on not elevating/'under passing' the motored traffic and letting people walk on grade?

Yes the key is pedestrian must be kept at grade at all times. This is true around the world. Else the traffic roulette situation results. Pedestrian must always have right of way on grade Always.

Road should not be shared. This is false thinking. Access and flow should be separate and dedicated.

And with this data & analysis they are now going hammer and tongs against the drunkards of Kerala.

And I can guarantee accident rate will continue to climb. Bad driving habits are due to bad driving environment. If you look a Delhi metro the same 'uncouth' folks line up, don't yell, and generally behave orders of magnitude better. Yes, education by DM helped, but environment matters even more.

In India we have this silly thinking that the lathi cures all, throw them all in jail is the constant refrain. No where in the world is this approach proven to work.

[Prasad]

Theo saar,
How much inconvenience will push people to break the law and run across the road? Do they need conveyors starting from their doorstep to the other side of the road? Everyone has to walk to the pedestrian crossing to cross the road. OMR has many such breaks in the road, it isn't a single non-stop roadway. But people are impatient/just dont care enough to walk to such a place to cross the road. Similar is the act of driving on the wrong side of the road rather than go further along and do a u-turn. Plain arrogance to not follow the rules of the road isn't supposed to be accomodated. I've been doing trips on that road from the time it was a single lane potholled ridden road lined with palm trees and lead to nowhere. And it has gotten worse at a compounding rate! I'm sure you've seen this picture -

[harbans]

Bad driving habits are due to bad driving environment.

That's a large jump. Yes we do have a situation where we have a bad driving environment, extreme traffic gradients, potholes, animals to navigate etc..but still stats show Drunk drivers, drivers unaware of rules, high beam driving, coming on the wrong side of the road, night with high beam, overtaking recklessly, jumping red lights etc. All point to a lack of education primarily and a wrong sense of 'smart' driving. Most drivers get a license easily.

Call center cab drivers in Gurgaon and Delhi are amongst the worst. They have motor skills but no traffic sense and sensibilities. While the former is a basic, the latter is what will improve the terrible traffic situation in India today. While statistics are blaring that accidents are coming heavy due to driver callousness and attitudes, it's falsehood to attempt deflect opinion saying it's an Indian adaptation and we are doing very well compared to even developed countries.

[Theo_Fidel]

I'm not saying there isn't atrocious driving. Absolutely there is.And yes traffic rules must be enforced and so there will be challans issued, peopled fined and even sent to jail. What my point is that not one of these items will reduce the fatality rate. No where in the world has it worked that you chase people with danda and fatality rate drops.

By scape goating drivers the standard reaction now is to flee the scene. You can see that in the statistic where drivers are blamed 80% of the time. This tells me that the easy way out is being taken too often when assigning blame.

First, people should never be in a position where office is on one side of OMR and say restaurant, bus stop is opposite side. In India this silly 3 foot fence with nice holding/climbing points does not work. In fact it does not work anywhere else either. Need to provide proper barriers. With grade change. Road should be higher or lower by 3 feet to 6 feet. That will reduce this crazy monkey jumping by 90%. There will still be exceptions, there always are. Indian situation is roads are too narrow and small. Pedestrians and traffic must be completely separated.

[harbans]

Theo Ji, where have i said that Danda is the only solution?

Education, stricter licensing norms, reduction of traffic speed gradients, mass transit options planned for newer suburbs and upcoming towns, better traffic management and planning, rule enforcement are urgent requirements

Everything i mentioned above is a systemic reform. I start with Education.

You can see that in the statistic where drivers are blamed 80% of the time. This tells me that the easy way out is being taken too often when assigning blame.

At the root cause level sure the system is to blame. The environment. The education., the enforcement. Each of the points i mentioned don't blame the individual. They just state the fact that these root causes reflect in driver callousness and attitude. Irrespective of the BBC report (which i did not care to see), we at the minimum have to acknowledge yes we have a problem. Not say it's OK or US/ UK have worse traffic sense (falsehood)..and in general name call well meaning individuals who say that these problems exist and acknowledgement of their existence is the first step to getting a consensus to solving it.

Surprisingly on BRF, we are not achieving the 1st step, of acknowledging that the problem exists. Instead those that identify the problem are being labelled as Macaulytes etc. The discussion has bogged down to the lowest common denominator level saying that whether there is a problem or no problem.

[SBajwa]

I am all for hefty fines for traffic rules that are enforced through electronic evidence collected on the spot. Then people have to pay the fine to government instead of bribing the police man.

[Prasad]

30% increase in 3 years!!

link

[Prasad]

I don't remember where I saw this video first. Anyway, sorry if repost.

[Purush]

For instance in Chennai, the entire Purasawalkam High road should be lowered to create a continuous underpass. All the side streets can then become pedestrian only and have linking connection across.

At the OMR road, I always see groups of people doing the 'Indian pedestrian road cross adventure' even when they are right below the pedestrian bridge. They would dare to run across the road, hop on the divider/median and run across - but won't climb up 20 steps and walk and climb down. Is cost the factor on not elevating/'under passing' the motored traffic and letting people walk on grade?

I think it would be prohibitively expensive and probably impossible technically to elevate/depress the road at every pedestrian crossing.

WRT to the pedestrian bridge- I am going to go out on a limb here: maybe there is a psychological component to this- nobody wants to climb stairs unnecessarily, so seeing a set of stairs as the first stage for crossing the road quickly deters them. However, a pedestrian underpass might not be such a bad idea, especially with a gentle slope instead of steps (or slope+steps depending on the space). The first stage is 'easier' since you're going down, and once in the underpass, you've already 'committed' to the crossing, so there is no choice but to complete it.

An underpass however has it's own set of problems with maintenance, water pooling during rains and sometimes even the presence of criminal elements.
Perhaps, at exceptionally traffic/pedestrian-heavy junctions in some locations both could be constructed on a trial basis and data collected as to which approach is more effective.

[Purush]

Another thing I've noticed (in Kochi at least): where there are traffic cops manning the junctions, the traffic flow is *much* better and regulated than those at automatic signals.
Automatic signals + traffic cop keeping an eye on the junction = even more effective, especially when there are designated pedestrian crossings.

There is one such junction close to my house; when the cop is around, pedestrians can cross freely when traffic gets the red light. But if the cop is not around, there is a 50/50 chance that the pedestrian has to compete with traffic even if the light is red since some vehicles simply ignore the light.

So some level of manual oversight/enforcement does work. But is it feasible to put a cop at every traffic junction in the city? Probably not?

Theo, I fully agree that traffic planning in the cities should give priority to pedestrian traffic, this has been implemented all over the world, and should be especially relevant for pedestrian-heavy Indian cities.
IIRC, some Japanese and Euro cities (Vienna?) used to have a no-vehicles-in-the-downtown area rule for Sundays. Only pedestrians allowed. Perhaps something similar can be trialled in some narrow/crowded commercial areas in Indian cities too. Park your car somewhere else and walk. Also allows the PWD people to carry out some maintenance/cleaning work in these crowded areas without obstruction by vehicular traffic.

[Purush]

30% increase in 3 years!!

link

However, with the traffic police increasingly using technology and surveillance cameras (with around 180 cameras operational in the city), Mr. Saleem hoped that the detection rate would increase. For example, after businessman Arjun Hari Nair (28) was run over in the early hours of September 15 on Ramana Maharshi Road, policemen tracked down the cab driver with the help of images taken from cameras as well as GPS coordinates to identify the taxi.

This gives me an idea which may be a bit far-fetched and not implementable outside the cities, but here it is anyway.

In Singapore, there is something called the Electronic Road Pricing fee which is essentially a toll for using the roads (in a private vehicle) in the CBD and other congested areas during peak hours. Prices scale according to the type of vehicle and time of day. Every road vehicle in Singapore has to be legally fitted with a uniquely numbered electronic reader/transmitter that contains a plastic cash-card. As the vehicle passes under a gantry (for eg. located on a road leading into the CBD) the toll is automatically deducted from the cash card. If there is no value left in the card, the gantry records the unique serial number of the card-reader/transmitter (which in turn is uniquely linked to the vehicle) and the owner gets a fine in the mail.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Road_Pricing

Something like this may be possible to ease congestion in the commercial areas of Indian cities during peak hours. It is definitely going to be unpopular, and the ERP also has its own set of problems- in some cases the traffic congestion is merely 'relocated' to a nearby area (an eg is given in the wiki link). So it has to be 'optimized' for Indian conditions. And it may also be difficult to ensure that all vehicles have these readers/transmitters. Perhaps start only with cars and heavy vehicles?

If the ERP-like system also contains a local tracking function that works within the city, say using something like cell towers (just an eg. probably something else is technically feasible) to determine vehicle position, hit & run drivers may be identified more easily using this + cameras. Ofcourse, this is going to be HUGELY unpopular with accusations of Big Brother behavior, invasion of privacy etc. But maybe some legal protection can be afforded....records of movement may be examined only in specific cases of hit & run incidents and only after explicit judicial approval.

[Theo_Fidel]

Harbans,

I agree with your comments. I just get annoyed with statements that going after individuals will solve this problem. BRF esp. suffers from this disease that throwing everyone in jail will solve this problem. For instance the question was whether cows on road significantly cause fatalities. The answer is no but you would not know that by listening to foreign media.
-----------------------------------------------------

Purush,

Now you come to the nub of the problem. Money.

You want safety you have to pay for it. You can't have one road safe while chaos continues elsewhere. All the roads must be safe or none of them are. Proper traffic engineering costs serious money. A 1-mile stretch of fully pedestrian separated traffic can cost on the order of $50 Million in USA. About Rs250 Crore. We could build it for about Rs 100 Crore. Instead it is cheap to build highways, with minimal engineering for Rs 10 crore per mile which is what we are doing right now. Hence the rising kill rate.

And I disagree with you. Pedestrians must remain at grade in a dense organic city structure like India. Vehicles must be isolated.

Here are some pedestrian only areas in India. Yes some exist. Note how safe the streets look and how relatively clean they are. All a function of being pedestrian only. In time 60% of our cities will have to become pedestrian only with mass transit. We are simply too dense for any other option.



Here's an image of Ranganathan street. There used to be a fatality a week here. Note the barricade between vehicles and pedestrians. 6 feet high. Traffic is purposefully slowed down to 15 kmph. Traffic now must use the elevated flyover. Notice how effective it is in keeping pedestrians separate. Note the incredible pedestrian crush the street handles relatively easily.

These things work. No sharing involved. All other comments are misdirected and futile.

[Gus]

Some observations after driving in rural, semi-urban Erode dist areas.

Night driving is very dangerous. NOBODY uses lo beam anymore. Everyone is on hi beam and don't have the courtesy to lo beam even after you do so in advance and also flash your beam to the opposite driver. Ten years back, when I was driving all over Salem, Erode, Cbe, Dharmapuri districts - road manners were much better. I used to prefer night driving. Now I avoid it and hurry people up so we can drive back in daylight.

Bikers don't wear helmets. People give all sorts of excuses....the worst one being hair loss (which is false). What kind of an idiot would take a head loss instead of a hair loss is beyond me. I have always worn a helmet...since my college biking days in late 90s. And these bikers have this annoying habit of always taking a peek on the right side of vehicle in the front constantly and falling back in and peeking out and falling back in. The idea of picking the average speed and leisurely driving at that constant speed on the left edge of the road is not that appealing, I guess. The worst is when TVS 50s with 3 people do this at 30 kmph blocking or causing other vehicles to swerve even more to the right. Lots of people do this kind of aggressive driving having a baby in front and a baby in the arms of wife in the back.

Roads are better (by not much) since I remember. Planning could be better. I wish they had paved the 'exit' and 'entry ramp' at the bridge where NH 47 crosses Chithode. Right now it is a mud road that people have made by using it. Nobody takes the exit they have given a few kilometers before...it is probably a good 15 mins extra.

The roads that run from Erode to Sathy etc, they could have made it just a feet wides on both sides. Right now only a bus can go on one side. So, just for a cycle or a bike, the bus has to swerve to the right. The road grade is such that it is dangerous for the two wheeler to get down to the unpaved shoulder and get back on. At least they could have smoothed the edge. The edges are all cracky...so two wheelers have to give some allowance on the left. Very disappointing that even this was not planned for.

[Yogi_G]

Indeed, road manners and quality of infrastructure in India is only heading south and not north as would be expected given the rising prosperity. When I came back to desh from Massa 3 years ago, the road near my place was relatively ok but I still cursed it everytime there was a logjam. I thought it would only get better with times and more money coming into corporation. Today the upper surface of the road is no longer visible and the underlying stones have all protruded up. Driving through the road will result in a layer of dust setlling on your vehicle. Worse, the 3 lane road (1.5-1.5 feet on both side) got reduced to 1.5 lanes now what with left over pipes from earlier work remaining unclaimed and eating up space on the road. BSNL and EB dug up the road recently and closed the gaps in a shabby manner with riders now avoiding the pathetically covered up part. Now imagine this road during rainy season. Folks from Thiruvanmiyur Chennai can easily what road I am talking about.

[Aditya_V]

Some observations after driving in rural, semi-urban Erode dist areas.

Night driving is very dangerous. NOBODY uses lo beam anymore. Everyone is on hi beam and don't have the courtesy to lo beam even after you do so in advance and also flash your beam to the opposite driver. Ten years back, when I was driving all over Salem, Erode, Cbe, Dharmapuri districts - road manners were much better. I used to prefer night driving. Now I avoid it and hurry people up so we can drive back in daylight.

Bikers don't wear helmets. People give all sorts of excuses....the worst one being hair loss (which is false). What kind of an idiot would take a head loss instead of a hair loss is beyond me. I have always worn a helmet...since my college biking days in late 90s. And these bikers have this annoying habit of always taking a peek on the right side of vehicle in the front constantly and falling back in and peeking out and falling back in. The idea of picking the average speed and leisurely driving at that constant speed on the left edge of the road is not that appealing, I guess. The worst is when TVS 50s with 3 people do this at 30 kmph blocking or causing other vehicles to swerve even more to the right. Lots of people do this kind of aggressive driving having a baby in front and a baby in the arms of wife in the back.

Roads are better (by not much) since I remember. Planning could be better. I wish they had paved the 'exit' and 'entry ramp' at the bridge where NH 47 crosses Chithode. Right now it is a mud road that people have made by using it. Nobody takes the exit they have given a few kilometers before...it is probably a good 15 mins extra.

The roads that run from Erode to Sathy etc, they could have made it just a feet wides on both sides. Right now only a bus can go on one side. So, just for a cycle or a bike, the bus has to swerve to the right. The road grade is such that it is dangerous for the two wheeler to get down to the unpaved shoulder and get back on. At least they could have smoothed the edge. The edges are all cracky...so two wheelers have to give some allowance on the left. Very disappointing that even this was not planned for.

Gus do you by any chance know of any place one can stay the night at Dhimbum or Hasunur areas of Erode district.

Yogi G- I can think 2 roads, 1 the main ECR itself, 2nd the right turn which takes you behind the Shiva temple and before it joins the road from Kalashetra colony.

[Purush]

Purush,

Now you come to the nub of the problem. Money.

You want safety you have to pay for it. You can't have one road safe while chaos continues elsewhere. All the roads must be safe or none of them are. Proper traffic engineering costs serious money. A 1-mile stretch of fully pedestrian separated traffic can cost on the order of $50 Million in USA. About Rs250 Crore. We could build it for about Rs 100 Crore. Instead it is cheap to build highways, with minimal engineering for Rs 10 crore per mile which is what we are doing right now. Hence the rising kill rate.

Theo, agree, it is going to cost dearly, but in the long term there is no option anyway.

In the traffic safety reports, it was mentioned that the annual loss from accidents is ~3% of GDP. Using a very conservative estimate of GDP as $1.5 trillion, that amounts to $ 45 billion i.e. Rs 225,000 crores. Each bit of financial savings from reduction of accidents will go some way towards balancing out the expenditure.

I mostly agree with you on the other points.
Was the pedestrian sidewalk at Ranganathan street reclaimed from the main road (it looks like it)?

[Yogi_G]

Yogi G- I can think 2 roads, 1 the main ECR itself, 2nd the right turn which takes you behind the Shiva temple and before it joins the road from Kalashetra colony.

It's the kottivakkam kuppam road. Interestingly, actor Ajith's place is in the vicinity and the few feet before his home floods every single year and no one does anything. You would wonder that for such a VVIP, things would have been fixed in a minute. Same case before actor Sarath Kumar's house which is a bit further ahead, the road before his home is grand canyon. Been that way for many years.

[Gus]

Gus do you by any chance know of any place one can stay the night at Dhimbum or Hasunur areas of Erode district.

I am out of touch...back after almost 10 yrs in massa. I can ask around, but most of my people there are...how shall I put it...non high-disposable income folks who don't stay in hotels anywhere.

[Theo_Fidel]

I mostly agree with you on the other points.
Was the pedestrian sidewalk at Ranganathan street reclaimed from the main road (it looks like it)?

Yes. Not just reclaimed. A new elevated flyover was constructed above the street at a cost of about Rs 30 Crore. I know it doesn't look like much but it is much much safer and few traffic cops required. Now if the auto mafia can be controlled....

[Aditya_V]

How come this Madman activity in Pune today. 9 innocents including 2 children unrelated to the mans problems murdered.

Pune driver hijacks bus, goes on rampage killing 9 in Pune

[SSridhar]

New equipment for road management in TN

Ms.Jayalalithaa handed over two vehicles equipped with the state-of-the-art, imported Road Management and Data Acquisition System (ROMDAS) to the Highways department. The equipment, each of which costs Rs. 1.50 crore, would evaluate the status and condition of roads in the State. In the first phase, ROMDAS would be used to study the damage caused to roads in Cuddalore and Villupuram districts by Cyclone Thane recently.

Mounted on a vehicle, the ROMDAS equipment has a global positioning system, a laser scanner to make accurate predictions about the quality of road surface, and other gadgets to make systematic, instant calculations about the works that need to be undertaken. The video cameras in the system would record all sign boards, trees, electricity, and telephone posts near the roads. All data, gathered through this equipment, would be transmitted real time to a computer and would be used to assess the damage and prioritise restoration of such roads.

I hope the vehicles are put to good use, and maintained well so that they don't remain disused due to repair or non-availability of spare parts. and, after the assessment is made good quality roads are built that don't get washed away at the first sight of monsoon rains.

[Yogi_G]

Lane system. We need a lane system ASAP. We can start by introducing first in the cities. I know that what goes around comes around in BR forums and this has already been discussed but there is a need to keep the topic alive all the time.

[Gus]

There are already lanes marked in Chennai..nobody bothers. You have to put concrete dividers between each lanes to enforce discipline which....won't be practical.

There is no single magic bullet. We need several things.....having better public transportation (quick and cheap mass rail systems for the low income, wifi enabled a/c buses to entice the office going crowd etc), streamline traffic flow with one-ways etc, increase road use cost for individual cars and autos etc to encourage car-pool and share-taxi in high congestion areas, zero tolerance on double parking and jugaad vehicles etc which create bottlenecks - use private contractors from out of town to tow/lock vehicles so people cannot do namedropping and intimidate, track offenses in license and suspend license and enforce license validity or jail time..this will keep most working class offenders in line because nobody in that class can afford jail time. Keep artery roads for certain classes of vehicles only and keep smaller interior roads for pedestrian/two wheelers only and have more parking complexes so people can park and walk to shops than loiter around blocking traffic.

[SSridhar]

There is no single magic bullet. We need several things.....

Essentially, we are an un-disciplined lot who do not know or respect rules.

[Sri]

Chennai's problem is the zig zag nature of traffic.

Example is the nungambakkam sterling road crossing. People come from nungambakkam and valluvar kottam and in a 50 m long stretch all this traffic has to get sorted into people going to Egmore / Numgambakkam and Chetpet and Sterling road. Though officially it is one way stretch, inevitable pile up happens. Adds 20 mins to my drive time...

[Aditya_V]

Chennai's problem is the zig zag nature of traffic.

Example is the nungambakkam sterling road crossing. People come from nungambakkam and valluvar kottam and in a 50 m long stretch all this traffic has to get sorted into people going to Egmore / Numgambakkam and Chetpet and Sterling road. Though officially it is one way stretch, inevitable pile up happens. Adds 20 mins to my drive time...

Yup and some smart ass will try and turn into wheatcroft road from the goodshepard side and somebody at the last minute will try to take the turn to Egmore. if you use this stretch daily you must be loving the latest changes to the traffic around EVR salai and Spur tank road.

[Sri]

Chennai's problem is the zig zag nature of traffic.

Example is the nungambakkam sterling road crossing. People come from nungambakkam and valluvar kottam and in a 50 m long stretch all this traffic has to get sorted into people going to Egmore / Numgambakkam and Chetpet and Sterling road. Though officially it is one way stretch, inevitable pile up happens. Adds 20 mins to my drive time...

Yup and some smart ass will try and turn into wheatcroft road from the goodshepard side and somebody at the last minute will try to take the turn to Egmore. if you use this stretch daily you must be loving the latest changes to the traffic around EVR salai and Spur tank road.

I live in Kilpauk, so I have to negotiate all that too. But I am ok with those stretches now. Chennai Traffic Police in all its judgement ensures that these new changes do not play havok on these roads onlee, rest of the usual roads are for us to figure out. Hope the metro is worth it.

[Gus]

Essentially, we are an un-disciplined lot who do not know or respect rules.

undoubtedly, things would be better if people followed basic rules even within the system as bad as it is. But then the system is also bad and there is no incentive to be a good driver. I was rear ended twice..nudged by a truck behind me to move ahead when I stopped on a signal before the line and did not bother to creep ahead when it was a red signal. What is the point of creeping ahead in such a situation is beyond me. You only end up blocking other flows and that ends up blocking your own flow. It is times like that, the rage builds up inside me and if it was not for Ilayaraja..I would be surely on the new for a road rage mass rampage..