[thoma]

MODs, there is a similar thread discussing on the pros and cons of the above topic, but it is closed. If it seems(or is it deems?) fit, please move these discussion to that thread.

Today, a small news lying in the corner of the news-hour caught, rather disturbed, my attention.

http://www.asianetnews.tv/news/artic...n-calicut-city

So then, I have been fearing that these happened only in China, but it is here now, right by our side. I cannot imagine not dropping my wife to the bus station during rain, in a car. Do I have to rope in a neighbor not to be stopped on my way back home? At least thank God, I am not in Calicut. And I know that many of us are heavily dependent on the car to reach office in good shape. Is this the first in India?

Sorry, the news is in Malayalam and the rough translation goes like this: During the festive season of Onam, cars with only one person will be restricted inside the city of Calicut, Kerala. This suggestion gets the nod from both Police and the Motor Vehicles Dept. Making roads 'one-way' are no way out of the the traffic chaos it seems.

P.S: I do not mind moving / deleting this thread if it is of not much relevance discussing on the topic. But I believe the ever increasing car population explosion would lead to some drastic measures as such, shortly if not now; maybe I need to get prepared!

[wilful]

I did hear about this from someone in the office in the afternoon. But he thought it was for Cochin also.
Anyway - can something like this be enforced? Considering the fact that the Supreme Court order on sun control films was largely ignored methinks this is one such initiative. Also considering the pathetic shape of public transport in the state, I don't think it makes much sense.
On a related note - Cochin has been witnessing horrendous jams these days largely due to massively damaged roads (and the metro work) so I think the solution for the authorities lies in repairing them rather than bringing out hare brained schemes like not allowing single occupant cars.

[ajaypjayaraj]

AFAIK they are not enforcing it or anything. Read somewhere that the cops said, legally they can't stop you for travelling/driving alone, they cannot impose fines either for the same. They are expecting motorists to co-operate and try avoiding single person commuting in cars for avoiding traffic jams during this festive season (I think for 4 days or so).

Trying to enforce rear seat belt rule did not work here. I doubt how far this is would work.

[shifu]

Originally Posted by thoma

But I believe the ever increasing car population explosion would lead to some drastic measures as such, shortly if not now; maybe I need to get prepared!

Interesting thought. Before taking such drastic measures the city should have very good dependable public transport. Otherwise introducing such measures will leave the population with no other option but to not comply with it.

Originally Posted by wilful

Considering the fact that the Supreme Court order on sun control films was largely ignored methinks this is one such initiative.

Really? In Hyd, the order was taken quite seriously. Finding a car with sun films is quite rare in Hyd now. However the enforcement has gone down for now and I guess the Police will be back in action at the onset of summer.

[Rajeevraj]

IMO, in a place like Calicut, if you do a survey, I think the percentage of single occupant cars will be very less. Actually they should do checks for over occupied cars in Calicut. 4 adults and a couple of kids crammed into the back seat of a Maruti 800/Alto is a common sight. Have even seen an 800 loaded with 4 adults and a kid in the back and couple of kids sitting in the boot space.

[Mpower]

It is a drastic measure but you have to look at it from another angle to understand the logic behind it.

1 person travelling in a scooter makes a footprint of 10 sqft (ie occupies 10 sqft area on the road) while same person travelling in a car alone lays a footprint of 100 sqft/person. with the limited amount of space on the roads, its extremely inefficient to travel in a car.

Larger the car, worse the numbers

[pgsagar]

I hate to read such kind of news in our country. While it may be good for environment etc.etc., but by doing this we are creating a sub-class of average joe. Now rich, politically-connected, influential will falunt their status by tarvelling alone and not being sermoned by cops while others are. I have seen the sunfilm thing in my state. While most motorists are stopped and film peeled, VIPs in their falshy SUVs opnely flaunt this rule and still drive around with darkest of tints with cops pretending to be blind. So, please spare this BS.

[mpksuhas]

Suppose anyone was to flout this rule I wonder under what rule will they be charged ?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Mpower

It is a drastic measure but you have to look at it from another angle to understand the logic behind it.

1 person travelling in a scooter makes a footprint of 10 sqft (ie occupies 10 sqft area on the road) while same person travelling in a car alone lays a footprint of 100 sqft/person. with the limited amount of space on the roads, its extremely inefficient to travel in a car.

Larger the car, worse the numbers

Agree with you. But, we also need to consider that the city being discussed here has no metro, no Volvo buses etc. Travelling by public transport is not exactly a pleasant experience.

And talking about roads- narrow, pothole filled and divider-less two lanes roads are the norm. Riding a two wheeler is fine, but not exactly good from the safety angle.

Kerala needs to scale up its infrastructure drastically before implementing all such laws.

Sad reality is - it's dangerous and tiring to travel 50 kms on kerala roads on a 2 wheeler, while you can easily do it in some of the neighbouring states.

[milestogo]

On the road from san diego to LA I noticed that there was a dedicated lane you could take only if you were driving with a passenger. I was surprised how many people could not use the lane. I wish we could plan and implement something like that.

[CoolFire]

Would agree with the above view. Still , In any country where these kind of laws are enforced, they ensure excellent public transport is already in place. We can't do this until then.

[Hiteshs77]

Quite interestingly, such a rule has been implemented in Jakarta on certain heavy traffic corridors in peak hours. A car with less than 3 persons cannot travel on such corridors.
It has become a profession for college students. They stand at one end of corridor, charge Rupiah 10000 (~1 USD), and get off at the other end.
You see: OPPORTUNITY IN ADVERSITY

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Suppose anyone was to flout this rule I wonder under what rule will they be charged ?

Like I mentioned above, cops have already said in the media that the guys commuting alone by cars cannot be legally stopped or fined. They just expect motorists to co-operate to this idea for the next 3, 4 days till Onam rush is done with. This is just a move to create some awareness and reduce festive season traffic jams in the city.

[azeemhafiz]

This action seems to be more targeted towards population control than traffic control.

Horrid roads, crazy drivers, even crazier bus drivers make two wheeler commute in Calicut quite dangerous. Base Jumping is probably safer.

This action can only be deemed logical if there are good roads, disciplined traffic (keep dreaming) and an excellent public transportation.

I hope this is restricted to just this festive season and doesn't spread to other times in the year.

[cpbopanna]

Whilst I was based at Jakarta, Indonesia in 2006, there was a similar rule, on certain busy/congested streets.

It started a whole new business - unemployed youth stood at the entrance of such streets (locally known as 'jockeys') who would travel with the single driver/passenger for a fee

The local joke was that the rule was passed by the government to provide some sort of income to the unemployed

The bottom line is that it did NOT serve the intended purpose!!


Mods: Kindly delete the post - did not see Hitesh's similar post above!