[Nitin]

Just goes to show how much respect people have for the so called 'traffic rules' and traffic police.
I so wish the constable had thrashed the daylights out of that cab driver. They think they are above the law, and one phone call will get them out of trouble. First thing,smash the phone, then the driver, and finally impound the car.
I also know that this is not going to happen!

[sam_boy]

Originally Posted by Partho-Palio

Fine he may be doing his job, great to have such cops. But parking place is never thought off when somebody pick up a commercial real estate. I work in Brigade road, I have park my car in Commercial street, opposite Army school. or else in Church street, where you have all the chances to get bruised. Actually Cars may be a misfit in India, more so in Bangalore kind of city.

Wait for 10 Lakh Nanos.....

The road I am talking of has provision for parking. The staples has a parking in the basement and so does Vims hospital which is next to it. The only thing is people are not aware of it and dont care about the no parking sign.

I never take my car if I have to visit Commercial street , I prefer a volvo and an auto to go there. I hate to see cars lined up in one side of the road and jamming up the beutiful street. I am not a bangalorean but absolutely love this place and I lose my temper when people behave like fools and give others a chance to abuse this beutiful place. Lets believe in the power of one. If every one thinks like us then lakhs of Nanos wont cause any trouble.

[gajsh]

Originally Posted by jassi

i have lived in bangalore for last four years and have been visiting it a lot before that (for rock concerts) since 2002. I have also lived for 7 years in pune, 15 years in bombay, 2 years in hyderabad, 1 year in chennai, 2 years in delhi. Besides this I keep travelling a lot to all of the cities mentioned above. Now that my background is clear i will make the following statements

1) I would say delhi is great in terms of traffic, some congested areas, but overall there are a lot of parallel roads that can get you to where you want. And yes the strict 'thullas' make things better
2) Hyderabad was a good place to drive and had some issues when they started growing but things have vastly improved since they expanded their roads and made all those flyovers
3) bombay - is most number of vehicles on road, but people are disciplined and that keeps things in control
4) chennai is crowded and things seem to be going out of control
5) pune - has the most 2 wheelers, but people are not irritated and impatient, bad traffic in the peths but otherwise its ok
6) bangalore gets the award for the worst city in terms of traffic, impatient irritated drivers, worst 2 wheeler drivers ever (record for most offroading bikers on pavements), craziest call center cabbies, worst road planning ever (growing one ways to solve traffic and even a flyover on mission road with a traffic signal on top)

And no i will not take the excuse that bangy grew like hell - if it grew so did the money influx grow (road tax, etc). Places like bombay grew in the past and recently pune and hyd have grown at crazy paces, but they were quick and got things into control.
I am sure the bangy traffic system could be planned much better, cops could be more stricter and most importantly drivers more rule abiding and patient.
No one is perfect, but if we all made that little effort to drive patiently and follow rules, I think bangy will be a much better place to drive

I am sure some people might disagree with my statements, i am ok with that- everyone has their own experiences and views and thats what makes this thread interesting!!

dude, I have lived in bangalore all my life, thats 28 years For your information, so who would know about bangalore better ? you or me ?

I agree with most of the things you have mentioned here, except the money influx and what it should have done to bangalore. What do you imply, there was huge money influx and so therefore there should have been improvements in road planning, dude for your kind information, as I have already told you, bangalore was never meant to be so big, it was very well planned before all hell broke loose(you very well know how). Just because people barged into it, it doesnt mean that you have to destroy all the residential layouts and start building roads and flyovers, there is a humanity angle to it. All the nincompoops are using residential area roads to do BUSINESS, sorry to say mate but this is the fact, however worse the traffic is.

I suffer for about 3 hrs daily in the mad traffic of bangalore travelling from JPNagar to Whitefield, whose fault is it ?? mine ? I hope you understand how I should be feeling. I feel deeply for my city. Please guys dont make any confrontational statements against my city. As I have already stated here, the traffic problem is the same everywhere, its a bit worse in bangalore because of its narrow roads which were built much earlier than when were born.

[m8002?]

SpitFire's experience is what exactly i was talking about. The cops in other cities command some respect from the road-users. In bangalore its absolutely zerp.

The cab-drivers, water-tankers, tractors and corporate buses run the show. the cops simply ignore what these guys do and in some cases even help them by blocking the rest of the traffic.

[hrag]

well, these days Chennai cops take things away from you in the following order:
1. Mobile phone
2. Vehicle keys

They used to first take the keys away earlier. To stop the influential calls, they take away the mobile first now.

[menonrajesh]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Today I was witness to something that can only happen in Bangalore.

20:00 today @ WindTunnel - NAL Junction on HAL Airport Road.

Spitfire, I can relate to whatever you have witnessed.
On the same spot a few months ago I too had a very bad experience.

I was entering into Windtunnel road from Airport road on the green signal. As usual the oncoming vehicles from Windtunnel road block all vehicles and atleast 3 cars and a few two wheelers get stuck in the intersection. Two wheelers squeeze into whatever gaps they got, but cars are in a deadlock situation. The cop at the signal is watching all the mayhem with a blank face.

With in a few seconds, signal for me turns red and the green signal is ON for the traffic coming from HAL airport side towards M G Road and all vehicles join the intersection. Its a complete deadlock, but cops doesn't move an inch. Unfortunately there was a small gap between my car and the one infront of me and I am seeing all two wheelers are getting streamlined to sneak through this small gap. Sensing the danger I am calling out for the cop to stop the traffic flow atleast on one side till everything gets cleared, but he is least bothered! Now, the inevitable happens, a moron on a bike tries his luck through this small gap, which would ohterwise allow only a bicycle to pass through, and scraps and damages the corner of my bumper! Ofcourse he wins the race and disappears into nowhere and I was like !! My car escapes more damages as by that time the car infront of me somehow managed to move a bit more further. Then, there I was, stuck right in the middle of intersection and whole Bangalore traffic is flowing infront of me, receiving many stares from the vehicles in front, as if I jumped the signal and landed on their way!! And I am seeing the cop moving very slowly towards me, at last!

Having left to do nothing, I come out of my car, inspect the damages and start talking to the cop who, by this time, is next to me. I am trying to explain him what has happened over past few minutes and shows the outcome of the ordeal on my bumper. I am trying to tell him, if the flow on either side was stopped manually for atleast sometime, everything would have been OK. Couldn't believe what he did next, he just turned back and started to walk away! I am calling him 'Sir..I am talking to you..', but who cares! By then my signal was green once again and the cacophony of vehicle horns starts. Not having the strength to go through one more cycle of the signals, I move on.

I still have not refurbished the bumper and looking at it I always wonder who was at fault - was it the two wheeler moron who decided to squeeze into an non-existant path, was it the cop who was mere a spectator but wearing a uniform or was it myself ?!

Ofcourse the first thing I did after reaching home was to write to the authorities through the RTO website. You may ask me 'why?' - Just to feel better venting out all my frustration,even though I knew 'Submit' button never 'works' in any such websites.

[pulsar56]

Just went through the last few pages. I have come to a conclusion that it's not anyone's fault as on the same principle as 'a man kills another, it's a murder. A group/crowd does the same, it's a riot' and everyone goes Scot free. Why not we T-BHP folks try to bring out a solution for this? Just triggering a thought process here!

And as per my personal experience, the cops at Hyderabad and Bangalore are more bent towards collecting money rather than enforcing the rules (if at all they know that!), Trust me, I have many times pointed to the cops that even though my license is from TamilNadu, it says that it is valid all over India! Some were even dumber and were not able to read English. I had to compare my RC and DL by tracing out the alphabets in my name to prove that both are same!

Slightly OT:
The flyover across the railway crossing near frazer town has been under construction for almost 5 years now. Is it over yet?

[jassi]

Originally Posted by gajsh

dude, I have lived in bangalore all my life, thats 28 years For your information, so who would know about bangalore better ? you or me ?

I agree with most of the things you have mentioned here, except the money influx and what it should have done to bangalore. What do you imply, there was huge money influx and so therefore there should have been improvements in road planning, dude for your kind information, as I have already told you, bangalore was never meant to be so big, it was very well planned before all hell broke loose(you very well know how). Just because people barged into it, it doesnt mean that you have to destroy all the residential layouts and start building roads and flyovers, there is a humanity angle to it. All the nincompoops are using residential area roads to do BUSINESS, sorry to say mate but this is the fact, however worse the traffic is.

I suffer for about 3 hrs daily in the mad traffic of bangalore travelling from JPNagar to Whitefield, whose fault is it ?? mine ? I hope you understand how I should be feeling. I feel deeply for my city. Please guys dont make any confrontational statements against my city. As I have already stated here, the traffic problem is the same everywhere, its a bit worse in bangalore because of its narrow roads which were built much earlier than when were born.

dude I knew you would respond completely understand how you feel - the city has really gone nuts due to growth over last 8-9 years (which is the time I have been seeing it). Before that it was like pune (pensioner's paradise) - but I hope you understand no city is built to handle what happens to it 20-40 years down the line - its the people in control (the policy makers, politicians, etc) who need to take things as they come, look at 5-6 year plans and adapt things. i know there is a human angle and that should be taken into consideration. World's biggest/busiest cities were not designed to do what they do today - that does not mean they become haphazard mis-managed in-human disasters - development has to happen and cities have to grow and adapt and improve to handle it (and no not at the expense of human sentiment, i repeat!!). The case is pretty similar in most major Indian cities due to exponential growth and improper planning. This maybe your city cos you lived here for 28 years, but this is my country cos i lived here for 29 years (and yes all the places i mentioned i lived are my cities!!! - i am not sure why we have this my city your city stupidity going on here - its our city, i love it and want it to improve as much you or anyone on this thread does). I hate to see my country going to the dogs due to corrupt selfish politicians/cops/etc whose only job is to eat money in the name of development, when they could be making future plans for growth and development of our beautiful cities whilst maintaining their heritage (read garden city, oxford of the east, etc). If we can't handle our growth and maintain a good human life and keep our cities clean, organised and beautiful in the face of growth, then there are only 2 options
1) don't grow, let the business go to other countries/cities of the world
2) shape up our act and get things back in control, easier said than done, but worse if not done
I could keep on ranting but i will stop here as I need to wade through some traffic to get home , fortunately not 3 hrs just 1.5 hrs !!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by gajsh

On a much more serious note, why not do what the IT guys in hyderabad did a few months back, remember guys ? Every few hours in the evening some IT guys used to manage a few traffic signals after work, remember ?

That happened in Bangalore as well. Morning as well as evening, people from IT companies were helping traffic police in Bangalore. There is a thread/post somewhere on that too.

Seems you need to brush up on your knowledge about YOUR city first!!

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Why should a city be discussed individually on a forum like this.

Because Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India, Garden City of India, Pensioners Paradise!
We are sad to see the deteriorating condition of this beautiful city!

There's always pride at stake for localites during such discussions.

It is quite natural for anyone, but we need to accept the facts!

We guys who are living in the city since birth are not ready to let people tear down a city on a public forum.

I don't think anyone is doing that with a ulterior motive.

There are well equipped authorities working for the Betterment of the city,

That is the root of the problem, the authorities are NOT doing their job properly!

For people who still need to rant, why dont you take initiative and start an NGO and work for the betterment of the city, we all Bangy boys will support and stand for it.

Good suggestion, but instead of starting a NGO, what we can do is, all Bangy boys can come together & meet the Head of Traffic Police & BDA and present our ideas & suggestions to improve the traffic conditions in our city.

[amitoj]

Started to say something but then the posts i was replying to got deleted.

Anyway, let me rant a bit about traffic then.

The Maruthi Nagar main road was dug up and closed for bridge repair ages ago. Is it still closed? If yes, how long does it take to repair a bridge man!

And here is something even more stupid! After the road was closed, they RELAID it!

[bblost]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Good suggestion, but instead of starting a NGO, what we can do is, all Bangy boys can come together & meet the Head of Traffic Police & BDA and present our ideas & suggestions to improve the traffic conditions in our city.

BANGALORE CITY POLICE

Public Participation in Traffic Management

30. - Citizens can volunteer to help manage traffic by enrolling as Traffic Wardens.

[gajsh]

Originally Posted by bblost

BANGALORE CITY POLICE

ok, now let us see how much of the ranting is converted into action now, I will keep a close look on this thread now.

Rant rant and rant guys, it wont help. I am often witness to road rage incidents and it pains to see all such hideous things happen. If only people can show a little bit of patience towards each other, man it would be such a beautiful place to live. Alas !! I guess the highways and the countryside are the places for genuine roadies.

[lohithrao]

My friend its very normal in Bangalore, take any work might be laying road, drain related or flyovers. i think we the people are to be blamed here the contractors who take up these work are least bothered! they know the people will "Adjust" and suffer but wont complain.

The drain work near my house took about 6months to complete where it would have taken not more then a month...the work got completed after making noise..

They were laying road, the first layer of stones were layed but the leveling is not done yet. they took about 3 weeks to put the stones which could have been done in a weeks time.. now its almost a month after laying the stones but there is no sign of completing the work. people find hard to walk and riding is very risky but the people are not complaining...

Tried contacting the contractor but no use!

Originally Posted by amitoj

Started to say something but then the posts i was replying to got deleted.

Anyway, let me rant a bit about traffic then.

The Maruthi Nagar main road was dug up and closed for bridge repair ages ago. Is it still closed? If yes, how long does it take to repair a bridge man!

And here is something even more stupid! After the road was closed, they RELAID it!

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

The drain work near my house took about 6months to complete where it would have taken not more then a month...the work got completed after making noise..

They were laying road, the first layer of stones were layed but the leveling is not done yet. they took about 3 weeks to put the stones which could have been done in a weeks time.. now its almost a month after laying the stones but there is no sign of completing the work. people find hard to walk and riding is very risky but the people are not complaining...

Seems Mahadevpura areas are much faster now

The road that connects the ABB and Shell pump in there was a total mess. But when the work started, it was in full swing and completed in a week or so. Seems like they will ply roads in Garudacharpalya too.

Problems starts now. When you have roads, people forget about lane and other vehicles. Try going in this road in a 2 wheeler around 5pm and you now why. Especially those tons of buses/cabs/vans from ITPL will just sweep you and go.

I am just waiting for N number of speed breakers in this stretch to pop up silently.

People talk about signal free stretch, put good roads. but once there are some accidents, immd put couple of signals and speed breakers.

New addition to this is the Signal near the KR puram bridge.

I wish they had 2 signals separately, one for the vehicles descending the bridge, and one for the other vehicles coming below the bridge.

Else, it will continue to be mess with so many vehicle doing criss-cross in there. Especially the BMTC stops adds a lot of congestion and traffic to that.