No one looks at Traffic Signals in Pune

[team suzuki]

on my recent trip to pune by car i observed that no one cares for the signal everyone is in their own world.at almost every traffic signal i found atleast one guy breaking the signal inspite of the presence of the traffic police in pune people are so sly that amoment the cop looks there the people break the signal and go i did'nt mean to hurt my fellow bhpians in pune but this is what i observed i pointed out pune because compared to banglore , mumbai and other cities i felt it the most in pune may it is because pune has the most number of two wheelers who are the ones who mainly break the signals if you drive in pune you are sometimes forced to break the signal as adriver this is what i expierienced

[cypher]

Yes, I'm from Pune and what you observed is very true about driving in Pune. The large majority of drivers do not care for signals or even oncoming traffic when driving in the wrong lane.

[spadival]

I have noticed this more in Pimpri chinchwad area.. Otherwise, people do stop at traffic signals, though some are a bit impatient and jump signals when its turning from amber to red.

[1000Horses]

YEAH. I have recently shifted to pune from Mumbai and that the first thing one observes here. I would say less 10% of ppl obey traffic rules. No lane discipline, no signals no rules. If you stop at any signal people from behind will honk u or flash lights . I experience this everyday.

And yes forgot to mention about parking habits. I had some terrible experiences in this area also during my first couple of outing with my car after landing here in pune.

[superavi]

Originally Posted by 1000Horses

I had some terrible experiences in this area also during my first couple of outing with my car after landing here in pune.

What experiences? Please share them.

[doomsday]

Was waiting to post this somewhere but was too lazy to put up a thread for my rant...

I commute ~13km daily to my office (riding or driving), and what a tiresome affair it is. In no city of India (I've have been to quite a few of 'em in all direction except perhaps east) have I seen two wheelers so eager to blast through the wrong side of the road during peak rush hour. Spotted a long traffic signal?? No problem- just hop over to the other side of the road through one of the omnipresent gaps in the dividers and continue as if nothing happened, even if on coming traffic has been released.

Worse still, morons like this inadvertently have to make their way right across the traffic cops while crossing the signals, and they seem least bothered about it. Believe me try this stunt in Bangalore and you'll be lightened by 500 bucks and/or one hour of your time even if your papers are in order. I am not saying that other cities it doesn't happen, but no where it happens so confidently and fearlessly. And these morons often include entire families on a bike, a kid sitting on the tank and what not... man what do these guys think. To top this, being a biking city (so I'm told) there isn't a law in place which says helmets should be mandatory.

Plus even at some major intersections, I often see one cop single handedly operating the entire junction, so there is no chance of him catching any culprits even if he wants to.

[abcxyz07306]

1. One can easily jump red signal, however be careful if you have to stop at red signal, some one who is coming from behind you may hit your vehicle as they won't expect you to stop at signal!
2. Very flexible way to drive on road, every one feels free to drive on both side of road that would be right and left. Four, Six, Eight wheelers are not exceptions!
3. Pedestrian are very much confident that if they show their hand coming vehicle would stop, Somehow they feel that coming vehicle's break is in their hand!!

So keep learning and get used to Pune's style of driving.

[spadival]

I have seen traffic wardens encouraging people to get on to the wrong side of the road at a traffic signal ...

Some times I get so irritated with these "wrong side" imbeciles that I do a high revving start as the signal turns green and get ahead of them to cut them off - Did the same thing to a moron in a WagonR the other day. When I looked in the RVM, He seem to be in a state of shock wondering what error he has commited.

[moralfibre]

Once, me, Karl and MIGHTY shrivz were in Karls Alto at a signal at Wadia college coming from Mangaldas road to Dhole Patil road. We encountered one Cielo and few bikers stationary on the wrong side of the road (in our direction) waiting for their signal to go green whereas we were already driving in their direction.
Karl stopped his Alto bang in front of the Cielo and a few cars got stuck behind him. We stopped the engine, and sat relaxed in the car. Shrivz got out, and scared the Cielo guy enough and coaxed him to reverse his car. He rolled up his window and made a few calls. Interim, I went to the traffic police at the junction who was comfortably having chai at a stall and asked him to take a look at the traffic that was caused. He came by, the Cielo driver rolled down his window and exchanged a few words with the cop.
The cop came to us and yelled at us asking us to reverse the car and let the Cielo go . Much to our amazement we protested only to be told that the guy driving the Cielo was a magistrate. BIG DEAL!!

[vnabhi]

Not much different from Hyderabad, I must say. There is chaos everywhere on Hyd roads, moreso in the old city.
When some cops tried to nab triple-riders on a bike last year, it ended in a crash on the divider, leading to loss of one life. Net result: police commisioner was transferred to a vague posting.
God, when will thinks improve in this country?

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Much to our amazement we protested only to be told that the guy driving the Cielo was a magistrate. BIG DEAL!!

TheMag has an evil twin in Pune?

These kind of incidents are very common in Chennai too.

India is called a glorified village due to these kind of incidents.

[pjbiju]

Pune is the city of lawless driving, at least for the most part of it. A good percentage of the people breaking rules are IT professionals and other professionals, supposedly an educated lot. And I would say the single biggest contributing factor to this phenomenon is the "traffic policemen". Noboday has any respect or fear for them. Some examples:

• I was on my bike at the Koregaon park North main road entrance signal going towards Blue Diamond. Our signal had turned red. A biker jumped the signal and the traffice policeman caught him and took him to the side. Meanwhile another biker jumped the signal. Traffic policeman jumped infront of this biker and asked him to come to the side. Meanwhile the first offender drove away. When the policeman turned to the fleeing biker, the second one too made his getaway.
• Traffic police routinely comes to take away the double-parked bikes in front of ICICI bank at the Bund Garden road. You will most often find a row of cars parked behind the bikes that are double-parked. I once asked the traffic policeman why he was only taking away the two-wheelers and not any of the 4-wheelers. His reply was that he was only in-charge of 2-wheelers.
• In Hinjwadi IT Park (phase I) you will often find a traffic police lady going around in a Tata 407 picking up 2-wheelers parked on the roadsides. As per design, there is no place in the whole of IT park where you are allowed to park on the roadside. Go infront of Wipro or Infosys and you will find dozens of indicas parked right under the no-parking boards. They are never caught.
• I was at the signal just before the Khadki police station signal on the old Mumbai-Pune highway. The car in front of us passed the signal while it had turned from green to amber. But meanwhile vehicles from the other side (with red signal and the count down timer close to 5) had already started moving. The guy was flagged down and then finally let go. Not sure if he paid something.

Be prepared for reactions ranging from an "angry stare to abuse to physical harm" even if your signal is green but you dared to cut off a guy dashing through the red signal. And as Kiran pointed out, the traffic police really may not be of any help.

Another thing with Puneites - you can stop and park your car/bike anywhere, especially under no-parking boards or along narrow roads (anywhere if you so please) as long as there is someone in the driver's seat. I have not come across a single instance where such drivers are penalized and asked to drive away.

[devnull]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Not much different from Hyderabad, I must say. There is chaos everywhere on Hyd roads, moreso in the old city.

Can't agree more. Me too, a daily victim of this. I hope the situation in Pune is not any worse.

The other day I was discussing with my friend as to why don't the traffic police in Hyderabad follow the Chandigarh model - collect money from traffic offenders. It's a complete win-win situation - there are so many offenders in Hyd traffic, they can make a lot of easy money and the situation will improve too. I know collecting money would be unlawful, but then "Jab seedhi ungli se ghee na nikle toh ungli tedhi kar dena chahiye".

[diabloo]

This thread has hurt the sentiments of Pune people. This is an insult to people of that area.

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by diabloo

This thread has hurt the sentiments of Pune people. This is an insult to people of that area.

Hurt the sentiments? Insult? Cant understand your post dude.

This is a hard fact. And truth hurts at times.