Traffic Woes in Chennai

The recent mowing down of three innocent young college girls by a water tank lorry in Chennai city has prompted me to write this article.

The statistics recently revealed an unbelievable disparity. Fifty lakh vehicles in Chennai and only 2700 odd policemen to control them. Now calculate the ratio of vehicles to policemen. Shocking isn’t it?

By what figment of imagination can controls be enforced in such a ratio? It saddens me to see the state of affairs on the roads. Blatant violations of traffic rules are a sickening sight for the law-abiding citizen. Helmets were made compulsory as per the High Court order a few months back, that too is not enforced and followed by two-wheeler riders.

The greatest violation in my personal opinion is jumping the red light. This is a serious matter and can lead to dire consequences, but no one cares and those observing the signals are harassed by continuous honking of horns.

In reality there are no laws adhered to, and it is survival of the fittest and craftiest on the roads of Chennai.

It is no surprise then that daily people are losing their lives, some for no fault of theirs. Lackadaisical attitude is still prevalent amongst the authorities as we don’t see any progressive measures being introduced, and absolutely no counselling or cautionary notices given, especially to youngsters who ride bikes like the road belongs to them, and weave through traffic without concern for their life or of others. Riding and driving on the wrong side of the road too is a menace and regularly done by two and three wheelers. I could name numerous such violations committed daily by road users.

Another serious issue is availability of road usage for vehicles. Almost 50% percent of the road is occupied by street hawkers, illegal and haphazard parking and if road works are in progress, then dumping of materials on the road. All this not only slows down traffic but causes impatience amongst drivers leading to road rage and accidents.

The fact that chills my bones is that we have laws for everything, but no one to enforce and this makes it easier for the violators to get away scot-free. There is a ‘don’t care’ attitude prevailing amongst drivers without fear of repercussions. I am fearful that no solution seems to be in sight nor are the authorities making any sincere efforts to control the situation. At this rate we may have such dismal scenario, where travelling on the road will not only be a nightmare but a death trap too. We are slowly and steadily heading towards pandemonium.

It is apparent that the police force is desperately short-handed and over- whelmed too with the number of vehicles on the road. They need to strengthen the force to enforce laws. Easier said than done, budgetary constraints will be quoted and moves to reinforce will be scuttled.

This is when a ‘Citizen Force’ should be created which is purely voluntary. They will be there to make up the manpower shortfall existing in the present set-up.

Leading public sector companies should be roped in to bear the cost of identifying and training citizens, who after successful completion of a short training program are empowered to penalize errant drivers and enforce laws strictly. Disrespecting the ‘Citizen Force’ too should constitute as a punishable offence.

A massive marketing campaign to be launched in which road users are severely warned to follow traffic laws or face serious consequences. At this point I would invite leading cine stars to make appeals via print and digital media to advise and caution people to follow traffic laws.

A strict criteria should be followed in recruiting the ‘Citizen Force’ and only people who commit to spending a specific number of hours per week should be allowed to join.

It is my belief that a large number of citizens will volunteer to lend a helping hand to address this situation. After all we all love our Chennai.

Driving should not only be a pleasure but safe too and Chennai can achieve that goal, albeit with a little help from the concerned authorities and the general public.