Traffic!

[Gordon]

You are very tired. You just wanna get somewhere VERY fast. You pray that there are no problems when you're on your way. You take a cab, bus or your car. And the only thing you know that you are stuck in traffic. Worse you are in the same place for 30 mins! You start thinking "WHAT THE HECK?! IT TAKES ME ONLY 15mins to reach there! AND I'M HERE FOR 30 MINS!"

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TRAFFIC JAM!

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These kind of stuff have happened almost everyday to most people and maybe in different ways. It gets soo irritating because you have no other option than waiting. It can get to your brains like nothing else. It'll fry your brains out and all you can do is sit there and get fried! In the suburbs, this kind of stuff is increasing and is not getting any better. It just keeps getting worse.

The most common issues that result in traffic problems are:

• Road Work: Except for the rains, you'll always see roads dug up so that they can be rebuilt again. Its good but the time taken to rebuilt sometimes take a loooooooooong time.
• Rickshaws [Autos]: More than anything else you'll see this yellow and black substance on the road. They sometimes get to your nerves. They'll park their hot-rodders anywhere they wish. They'd cut in between traffic like Hakkinen making his way up the grid.
• Lane-cutters: These are the common and maybe we are also among them. Its not right to shift lanes during signals and are not legal. They simply make it worse.
• Wise guys: They'll park their cars on the turns, they'll park their cars on a fair amount of road. On a single road, they'll drive on the wrong side. People who do not follow signals. If the signal has turned red, they'll still go ahead to make matters worse.
• Potholes: The worst I've noticed is the Juhu Galli road during the rains. There are potholes and worse the road itself is not proper. The traffic gets sooo jammed that you may end up for more than an hour there.
• If you have any other issue that causes traffic jams, you can add them.

What can we do to rid our roads of traffic?! what can be done so that you can have a peaceful and happy journey?! Post in and lets hope that someone somewhere could read this and bring a change in our road lives. And I also hope that you guys could change your attitude [if you have one of the above] and make others have a happy journey.

[normally_crazy]

ban all autos from the eastern and western highways
make cops more resposible
make license laws more stringent
take proper action against errant taxis, autos and private vehicles
have properly demarcated auto and taxi stands
train the best and st drivers in lane discipline
ban all trucks from entering the city

[amitoj]

An issue quite common on the roads of Bangalore.... BMTC buses stopping in the middle of the road at bus stops. I dont understand why the BMTC buses compete with each other!! They are govt employees and i dont think their wages are dependent on number of passengers they carry. And yet, they will block other buses, stop in the middle of the road and race like mad!!
What i do when i am stuck in a jam.... i carry a newspaper or a magazine to read when stuck. Best way to make use of the time wasted in jams. Or listen to some jazz to keep my head cool.
Other than that, at a bigger level, i agree with wot NC has said.

[Gordon]

Hawkers: Another thing that can cause serious traffic problems are hawkers! They have invaded Mumbai sidewalks! They are the sole reason for traffic problems in areas close to Andheri Station, Hill Road, Santacruz Station and SOMETIMES even Link Road [Bandra]! Because of hawkers, pedestrains do not and cannot use sidewalks, so they opt to walk on the road itself, thus causing vehicles to slow down.

[gkrishn]

As far as Bangalore is concerned, there are lot of peculiarities which has contributed to the traffics jams.
Some of them are…

1. Bad layout of roads. I think we need to properly lay out the roads. The problem with bangalore is not just the pathetic condition of road. But also complete lack of design or any such thing. For example in indra nagar, there is this 80 feet road whcih run from old madras road to, to… well the intent is to connect to airport road. But after covering 80% of the distance, the road just vanishes. It becomes a narrow crooked lane. Most of the bangalore is like this.

And now with BDA NOC and stuffs like that, lot of plots and flats coming around Bangalore in a hap hazard manner. And in these places no design of layout of the complete area exists. Hence the poor outlay of road will continue.

2. Have u ever seen any place where at a junction, at every 10 degrees, a road spans out??? Well its pretty common in bangalore. Every road has to be straight and it has met other roads at 90 degs. Else it’s a bad bad design.

3. Here you will have this on big main road running down with lots of small roads joining them all the way. Now that’s not a problem. The problem is, with speed breakers that are built on these big roads at every joint of small roads. I have no idea which idiot decided on a master piece design like this. These kinds of speed breakers are pretty common through out Bangalore. They are effective only is slowing down the traffic thru that big road and resulting in congestion. Finest example of one such master piece exist on the way from bannergatta road towards silk board. Here there exists one big broken speed breaker at behest of a small road joining in. And this slows down the entire vehicle traffic down this road.

4. Lastly, it is also to do with the civic sense of the people who live around that place. People of this city are shamefully senseless to say the least. Man, just visit any given un-maned, no traffic light junction in Bangalore. They create a havoc and block each other forming a kind of dead lock on simple junctions. You guys have to see these thing to believe them.

[speedsatya]

maybe the govt shud think of discouraging people from travelling alone.
for that maybe higher tolls cud be levied on cars with only the driver.in this way we wud be encouraged to go for car pools and maybe use the public transport.
maybe BEST wud not have a loss on its AC buses.
also toll shud be levied inside the city also both the highways.the present system of paying toll when u enter n leave the city is simply ridiculous.that is people staying inside the city who use the flyovers dont have to pay for them ,whereas those who cum from outside or those who dont travel inside the city have to pay.
the whole sysytem sukkkkks

[GTO]

With metropolitan areas in India having more than 10 times the amount of population they were originally designed for, its hardly a surprise that traffic jams are a way of life.

Do what I do....reach work before the traffic even begins, and leave after.

GTO

[Gordon]

Whatever must be done, must be practical. So here are some few points I thought of -

• Rickshaws: Rickshaw production must be stopped completely! They must go on with whatever rickshaws are left. In the suburbs, 3 out of 5 vehicles would be a three-wheeler.
  
  
• Roads: Roads must be concreted. Roads must have two lanes minimum on each side of the divider excluding the dambar section. In the suburbs, the dambar section is being converted into concrete to make it three lanes on either side.
  
  
• Sidewalks: Sidewalks must be made and used! There should be sidewalks wide enough and must have fencing.
  
  
• Hawkers: THROW THOSE DAMNED HAWKERS OUT OF MUMBAI! Hawking zones should be made strict. Andheri station, Hill Road and Santacruz station road are one of the worsts I've ever seen.
  
  
• BEST: They should be monitored and have warning systems. After sufficient warnings, they must take strict and legal action against them. Anyone caught violating traffic rules or any other rule, should be dealt with strictly. At every stop or maybe depots you can have some sort of complaint box where there are forms available. Fill in the form that will ask the registration number of the bus, time, and the route number along with the complaint against the bus.
  
  
• Flyovers: More flyovers must be constructed to ensure movement of traffic. The best flyover or bridge that is gonna be completed would of course be the Bandra-Worli Sealink. I guess it would be a huge relief for traffic.
  
  
• Parking Areas: Parking areas on the side of the road must be made at specific locations ONLY. If an area is selected as "NO PARKING", then there should be an alternative area close-by where you can park the car without any problems.
  
  
• Public Transport: Public transport like buses [NOT RICKSHAWS!] must be encouraged. You'll see most cars at the signal with only one person in it. It'd be so much better if you'd just take the bus.

[Gordon]

well I know throwing the hawkers out is not practical BUT they are very irritating most times.

Another problem if you would throw out hawkers or stop rickshaw production, would be unemployment.

[shravan316]

Originally Posted by Gordon

[*]Public Transport: Public transport like buses [NOT RICKSHAWS!] must be encouraged. You'll see most cars at the signal with only one person in it. It'd be so much better if you'd just take the bus.[/list]

The problem with this idea is that, one wouldn't really prefer to go in absolutely jam packed buses, where person really doesn't get place to stand..... forget a seat to sit.
Now, one has to find a solution to make the buses less crowded.....

[speedsatya]

how wud the common man who doesnt own a car travel if rickshaws are banned.
these people will say that cars shud be banned.
banning anything will not solve the problem.
as GTO said,go before everyone and cum bak after everyone

[Deeps]

Other reasons for traffic jams:
1.The buses stopping in the middle of the road as Amitoj mentioned.
2. Stray/Pet animals taking a nap in the middle of the road.
3. No sense of lanes. More specifically, the people that want to turn right at a junction create 3 lanes and block the people wanting to go straight or left.

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

how wud the common man who doesnt own a car travel if rickshaws are banned.
these people will say that cars shud be banned.
banning anything will not solve the problem.

Rickshaws unfortunately cannot be banned. There are already tooo many rickshaws on the road. You'll know the BIG difference in traffic when there is a rickshaw strike. This is exactly why I said Rickshaw production must be stopped completely. Another thing, a person not owning a car need not always travel by rickshaw, they can even travel by bus, which is a much cheaper and safer mode of transportation [except of course when its crowded].

Originally Posted by GTO

Do what I do....reach work before the traffic even begins, and leave after.

Originally Posted by speedsatya

as GTO said,go before everyone and cum bak after everyone

what GTO said is just something any other person would do! but would it make any difference on the actual traffic jams caused? Thats not gonna change. Someone somewhere somehow will be stuck in traffic. If you start taking things a little further, you'll also realize the time being wasted in traffic jams. It can seriously affect work in the country, it can affect financial dealings also. And it can also affect projects and researches. In that time, you could do a lot of things, people could go and buy a lot of stuff, people can reach their offices faster and finish more things than they normally could. People would be in a fresh state of mind to work. This can be good for researchers, programmers, etc. Pollution levels can also be decreased.

[manaa45]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

maybe the govt shud think of discouraging people from travelling alone.
for that maybe higher tolls cud be levied on cars with only the driver.in this way we wud be encouraged to go for car pools and maybe use the public transport.
maybe BEST wud not have a loss on its AC buses.
also toll shud be levied inside the city also both the highways.the present system of paying toll when u enter n leave the city is simply ridiculous.that is people staying inside the city who use the flyovers dont have to pay for them ,whereas those who cum from outside or those who dont travel inside the city have to pay.
the whole sysytem sukkkkks

i completely agree with u as i stay in navi mumbai and when ever i have to travel to mumbai even if it is chembur, i end up paying a toll of Rs 40 to and fro, i then prefer going by bus or train as it is always cost effective. i mean if u have to go for some shopping then u can afford to take the car else, public transport is the best transport.

[.anshuman]

the condition of indian roads and transport system is so bad that even a if a formula driver comes here he'll have to hire a cheuffer and buy a suv,apart from roads the cops here are fine people not to enforce law or to make roads safer but to generate revenue for the government,owners of euro 2 cars are harassed sometimes by cops just because they dont have puc certificate but the auto and bus drivers go unchecked because they either have a fake puc with black smoke emitting from tailpipes which are focussed on poor two-wheeler or they brice the cops.i think india is a exception,with population increasing with a ever highest speed and so is the income of the people,millions of vehicles come on the road every year with the previous vehicles remaining in on the same road networkwhich was built years ago.the govern ment should consider giving a special quota from the annual budget atleast some part of the high tax we pay on cars ,their registration their spares ,their service,on fuel.......and the list goes on and on .