[createrkid]

Indian traffic + no signals = trouble beyond imagination.


Let me illustrate an example.

Not very far from my house is a highly commercial 4 way road, it's quite narrow by bangalore standards so, every weekend(usually Saturdays), the traffic cop disables the signal and manages the traffic on his own! May seem alright but it gets even worse with motorists(read two wheelers) just dillying dallying and not obliging to wait, a very important clientele meeting awaits them, you see.
If a cop can't account for peanuts while managing traffic. I'd say abolishing signals all together is asking for nothing but massive traffic snarls and increased number of reported road rage incidents.

P.S- no offense to any cops.

Originally Posted by iamswift

In Germany, only towns are off traffic lights (not cities).

Well said ,
towns in India are like german cities in terms of density of traffic, aren't they, if not worse ?

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by sukhoi30

Now, if we remove traffic lights, what will happen? Have you noticed, how traffic moves in a roundabout? It is much more streamlined. There is hardly any confusion. There is very less stopping time. Vehicles in the roundabout automatically get right of way. Only thing is, some of the roundabouts in India is bit too large and obscures visibility. So, what if we remove all traffic signals and replace with roundabouts? Wouldn't the traffic be much smoother? The traffic police don't have to man the signals any more. The roundabouts make the vehicles slow down anyway and hence either no accidents or less impact accidents for those stupid drivers. This, with the strict implementation of rule "give way to the left" plus "right of way to pedestrians in intersections on zebra crossing" will surely make driving much less strenous and more efficient.

In the 1970's and 1980's most Indian cities had roundabouts and motorists used to follow the rules properly. Of course, traffic density was hugely lesser than it is nowadays. In the UK, Austrlalia, Mauritius etc, I have observed that roundabouts work perfectly well, with people politely waiting and yielding to traffic coming from the right.

Saying this, it all finally boils down to discipline or the lack of it along with a spirit of give and take, both of which are highly deficient nowadays in India.

[AlphaLamb]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

In the 1970's and 1980's most Indian cities had roundabouts and motorists used to follow the rules properly. Of course, traffic density was hugely lesser than it is nowadays. In the UK, Austrlalia, Mauritius etc, I have observed that roundabouts work perfectly well, with people politely waiting and yielding to traffic coming from the right.

Saying this, it all finally boils down to discipline or the lack of it along with a spirit of give and take, both of which are highly deficient nowadays in India.

You sir, have hit the nail right on the head, discipline and the spirit of give and take are the most scare commodities in the Indian scheme of things and the lack of these (among other basic behavioural tendencies) are very strong reasons for why this experiment of traffic signal free roads in our country would fall flat on its face.

[ecosport rules]

I was surprised to see something like this.
Great achievement and I agree that it is due to sparse traffic in these countries.

Lets not beat ourselves about India, it is not posiible even in the USA.Try Newyork.

Just my 2 cents

[sukhoi30]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

In the 1970's and 1980's most Indian cities had roundabouts and motorists used to follow the rules properly. Of course, traffic density was hugely lesser than it is nowadays. In the UK, Austrlalia, Mauritius etc, I have observed that roundabouts work perfectly well, with people politely waiting and yielding to traffic coming from the right.

Saying this, it all finally boils down to discipline or the lack of it along with a spirit of give and take, both of which are highly deficient nowadays in India.

Discipline is somethng which should be taught while practising it. You can't expect people to show discipline even before something is put in practise, do you? So, in that sense, it will be interesting to see how motorists tackle intersections without traffic lights after it is put in place.

Here is an example ...

In pune, there is an intersection called Dada Vaswani Chowk. It has a roundabout with the saint's statue in the middle. It is a few meters from the Pune Railway Station. It has stood there since ages ... I thnk it was there even before I was born. The traffic has increased in Pune in the past several years ... maybe even doubled/tripled. I never found an issue going past this roundabout. Nor do you see people getting stuck in jams.

Just ahead of this roundabout is another intersection with traffic signals near the council hall, pune. Here there is the usual mayhem ... no disciplined way of driving or respecting the signal. Two-wheelers (as you know Pune has millions of them) regularly break the signal. There is the usual jam witnessed when traffic cops take over. Or, when signals are not functioning, you are bound to see one or two accidents.

BTW, note that, whatever be the case, maintaining sane speed limits is mandatory otherwise accidents can happen anywhere.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by sukhoi30

Discipline is somethng which should be taught while practising it. You can't expect people to show discipline even before something is put in practise, do you? So, in that sense, it will be interesting to see how motorists tackle intersections without traffic lights after it is put in place. Here is an example ... In pune, there is an intersection called Dada Vaswani Chowk. It has a roundabout with the saint's statue in the middle. It is a few meters from the Pune Railway Station. It has stood there since ages ... I thnk it was there even before I was born. The traffic has increased in Pune in the past several years ... maybe even doubled/tripled. I never found an issue going past this roundabout. Nor do you see people getting stuck in jams. Just ahead of this roundabout is another intersection with traffic signals near the council hall, pune. Here there is the usual mayhem ... no disciplined way of driving or respecting the signal. Two-wheelers (as you know Pune has millions of them) regularly break the signal. There is the usual jam witnessed when traffic cops take over. Or, when signals are not functioning, you are bound to see one or two accidents. BTW, note that, whatever be the case, maintaining sane speed limits is mandatory otherwise accidents can happen anywhere.

I know this roundabout and am with you on the fact that traffic flows nicely there. But, believe me, it will take just one weekend visitor in a hurry to gum up the works...
In Bangalore there used to be decent roundabouts which worked. Now all have vanished because of errant motorbikers and autos etc.
In Madras too, the story is the same.
End of the day, we are an indisciplined and unruly lot.