Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation

[shankar.balan]

Lousy experience this morning with a Silver UP 70 Registered Accent with a fool behind the wheel.
I was driving towards Koramangala near Sukh Sagar after dropping my wife and getting to my office when an old lady darted across the street through the traffic. Naturally I braked and allowed her to pass.
A fool behind me in an Accent honked very hard so I stayed stopped and gave him a "look".
The chap had the gumption to stick his middle finger in the air - to which I promptly returned the salute, twice over with both hands.
Had I been ten years younger, I would probably have stepped out and settled his hash.
However, I guess, with age comes wisdom and I didnt bother.
Such people ought not to be allowed to drive and use the public roads in my opinion.
And frankly these chaps have absolutely no manners or road sense whatsoever!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Aiel

There seems to be digging on Bannerghatta road, just after Kalyani Motors towards Jayadeva side. As a result, traffic was completely blocked in the morning and even now, only one lane is open. This has resulted in a jam extending all the way past Fortis.

The other side is fine for now (by Bannerghatta Road standards).

Kindly use alternate routes, if planning to take this route.

The story i heard was that there had been some accident. I also took a left at Adigas and came out near Sagar hospital. But today i saw that it was indeed dug up.

Yesterday, on the way back, the Bilekahalli traffic light was switched to yellow and there was no traffic cop also. As a result, mayhem.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

Amitoj,

Reminds me of a incident I had at the same jn on a sunday morning at 8am. A young man on a activa+no helmet. I was on the left lane and the smart man wanted to overtake me from the left. He hit my left RVM and then dropped his bike deliberately, just to pick a fight!
I accepted all faults and responded with 'Bhaichaara' which more or less defused the situation . But in a nutshell, its of not much use at that Jn!

Ditto happened to me in front of Sagar Appolo. Guy with no helmet on an activa raced past me on the left side and hit the OVRM hard. The guy might have hurt his hand. He didn't stop or drop the bike though. May be because I was stand still, waiting for the signal!


BTW, The Bellandur gate junction near Springfields have huge craters leading to long pile-up. This has been there for many months! Also deep pits near Wipro junction and further one opposite to MK Retail. These are mammoth ones atleast a feet deep. Feel pity for those run into those in the dark. No one seems to be bothered :(

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by bejoy

BTW, The Bellandur gate junction near Springfields have huge craters leading to long pile-up. This has been there for many months! Also deep pits near Wipro junction and further one opposite to MK Retail. These are mammoth ones atleast a feet deep. Feel pity for those run into those in the dark. No one seems to be bothered :(

As a regular on that route, i know where the potholes are and choose my lane accordingly. Seeing newbies on that strecth go pounding into those craters is awful.

Interestingly, some parts of Sarjapur road were patched up a few months back, but looks like nobody cares these days.

[Vid6639]

Sarjapur road is really getting bad these days. The road from Wipro Junction to Sprigfields is in tatters. The potholes at Springfields are horrendous. Have seen autos get stuck there as well as lorries. The chaos because of potholes should be enough for the cops to realise and get the BBMP to fill up. Instead the cops choose to watch the fun.

These days I can't enter Harlur road nor can I get onto Sarjapur road for a good 10-15mins.

The traffic is become so heavy that I feel a traffic light is actually needed there now. They also need to put a divider although that will not be easy as the road is very narrow and if people try to come from opp. side it will lead to more chaos. It's just a matter of discipline which ofcourse noone has.

[rohanjf]

Do you guys remember how the Sarjapur road was six years ago? The road existed only on paper.

The crater across MK Retail is horrendous. Yesterday I saw a Safari struggling there (may be the driver wasn't used to it, but the car surely enjoyed being home).

The patches they put a few months back are coming apart already. And those dumb people removed humps on one side of the road, but not from the other. I still don't understand why there are no signals at Kaikondrahalli and Haralur junctions. They started the signal at Wipro, but after two weeks, they stopped working (or were switched off), possibly because nobody (especially the BMTC buses hired by Wipro) would obey them.

And now a days, the number of cement trucks has gone multifold, thanks to all the construction happening. 2 days ago, I was stuck behind one cement truck trying to overtake another. And behind me was a private "Aishwarya Rai" bus. You know how they drive!

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Sarjapur road is really getting bad these days. The road from Wipro Junction to Sprigfields is in tatters. The potholes at Springfields are horrendous. Have seen autos get stuck there as well as lorries. The chaos because of potholes should be enough for the cops to realise and get the BBMP to fill up. Instead the cops choose to watch the fun.

Some filled this up recently, no? But of course, with mud. And that's coming apart already!

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by amitoj

The story i heard was that there had been some accident. I also took a left at Adigas and came out near Sagar hospital. But today i saw that it was indeed dug up.

Yesterday, on the way back, the Bilekahalli traffic light was switched to yellow and there was no traffic cop also. As a result, mayhem.

It looks like a pre-planned digging work. If so, the density of this traffic could have been easily reduced had BTP took some proactive steps like informing people at all the junctions especially at Arekere junction so that people can take the alternate routes. Even I thought that the traffic was due to some accident. Spent one hour to travel couple of Kms and I was on the way to airport to drop my friend, luckily the traffic after this stretch till airport was very smooth and hence could reach on time.

[shankar.balan]

You should have seen the stretch of road to Sarjapur Village around 1993 - 1995. Then you would know how much things have changed. At that time outside Fernhill Apartments that entire road was one long crater! HSR Layout didnt exist except as a Swamp. There was absolutely nothing after Trinity Acres and Woods except a small tea shop - just jungle, swamp and mosquitoes.

Incidentally when in Bangalore or Chennai they build these flyovers, they allow that narrow strip of road to go through the middle of those flyovers instead of building smart exits off the flyovers themselves, leading to the off shoot areas.

I also dont know what prevents them from at least having the road surface below the flyover in good condition instead of craters everywhere!

We have the engineering prowess and knowhow - just lack the will and are too happy to work on compromises all the time.

Very sad!

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Interestingly, some parts of Sarjapur road were patched up a few months back, but looks like nobody cares these days.

[aqualeo2040]

While we are on the topic of Sarjapur Road:
Does one govt agency show-cause another Govt Agency?

Those BBMP idiots first dug up the entire stretch. Then cut off the signal wires.and then covered it all up with mud!
I shudder at the thought of what would happen to Sarjapur Rd/ORR Jn after a brief shower!!!
The road has been reopened without tar! the signals are still defunct. Why doesnt BTP sue the bejesus out of BBMP for such unorganized and unplanned idiocity!!

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

The patches they put a few months back are coming apart already. And those dumb people removed humps on one side of the road, but not from the other. I still don't understand why there are no signals at Kaikondrahalli and Haralur junctions. They started the signal at Wipro, but after two weeks, they stopped working (or were switched off), possibly because nobody (especially the BMTC buses hired by Wipro) would obey them.

That signal was a disaster to start with. First you had traffic density which varied at different times, which was never taken into consideration. Then you have auto stands on both sides of the junction, and needless to say, rules and traffic lights are NEVER applicable to them. Result was chaos.

BMTC buses were stationed at that junction to pick up and drop passengers to and from Wipro, as a result of which traiffic on these sides never moved, despite having a green signal.

Finally, someone decided all this nonsense wasnt worth it, and the signals have not been functional since. It is now left to those on the road to fight it out themselves to cross the junction in their respective directions.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Incidentally when in Bangalore or Chennai they build these flyovers, they allow that narrow strip of road to go through the middle of those flyovers instead of building smart exits off the flyovers themselves, leading to the off shoot areas.

Seriously! They had an excellent chance to achieve this at the new Agara junction flyover, but they chose to have those narrow lanes below, with some stone slabs as a makeshift divider, which bikers anyway remove and displace at their fancy when they want to cross over. These lanes are so narrow that two Volvo buses coming from opposite directions need to be careful they dont yank off each other's mirrors.

Why leave it at this alone.. we also have busstops just before you enter the narrow lanes as well. Now, that adds to the fun.

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

While we are on the topic of Sarjapur Road:
Does one govt agency show-cause another Govt Agency?

Those BBMP idiots first dug up the entire stretch. Then cut off the signal wires.and then covered it all up with mud!
I shudder at the thought of what would happen to Sarjapur Rd/ORR Jn after a brief shower!!!
The road has been reopened without tar! the signals are still defunct. Why doesnt BTP sue the bejesus out of BBMP for such unorganized and unplanned idiocity!!

After that road was relaid, and the signals functional, i thought there was a semblance of peace for a while. But that was shortlived.

This is also seen at the Whitefield KTPO main road. They tarred the road after many years, added reflectors and what not and about a week later, another set of smart chaps come and dig up parts of the road! Talk of planning among authorities.

[amitoj]

Sigh!
One digging on Bannerghatta road couple of days back led to a massive jam. I dread to even think how things will be once Metro construction for the Gottigere to Nagavara phase starts.

[shankar.balan]

In case you didn't realize it already, in Government, one paw of government knows nothing about what the other paw is doing!
The grinding wheels of bureaucracy and idiocy will grind on, in India, long after we are all dust and ashes, given the kind of people handling the show there!

Originally Posted by aqualeo2040

While we are on the topic of Sarjapur Road:
Does one govt agency show-cause another Govt Agency?

Those BBMP idiots first dug up the entire stretch. Then cut off the signal wires.and then covered it all up with mud!
I shudder at the thought of what would happen to Sarjapur Rd/ORR Jn after a brief shower!!!
The road has been reopened without tar! the signals are still defunct. Why doesnt BTP sue the bejesus out of BBMP for such unorganized and unplanned idiocity!!

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

one paw of government knows nothing about what the other paw is doing!

that had me in splits!!


on unrelated topic - have you guys noticed how lawless people have become in Bangalore? earlier it was the BMTC drivers who cared a hoot about the traffic police and i believe me i've see the traffic cop getting abused by these drivers; but now even the mango people don't give damn about them!

everywhere you see people are violating traffic laws and cops just stand there gaping. things are just getting out of control!

[shankar.balan]

We are lawless by nature and hate following any kind of rules.
Rules are for "other People, not for me" seems to be the attitude.

In an environment where enforcement is pathetic, naturally there will be chaos, confusion and anarchy.

Who are these "mango" people? Or is it an euphemism for "AAM Admi"?

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

that had me in splits!!


on unrelated topic - have you guys noticed how lawless people have become in Bangalore? earlier it was the BMTC drivers who cared a hoot about the traffic police and i believe me i've see the traffic cop getting abused by these drivers; but now even the mango people don't give damn about them!

everywhere you see people are violating traffic laws and cops just stand there gaping. things are just getting out of control!

[lohithrao]

Such nut heads are found in abundance and their cult is increasing by the day!

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Lousy experience this morning with a Silver UP 70 Registered Accent with a fool behind the wheel. whatsoever!